These Boots Were Made for Racing
by InfectedLife
Summary: AU and therefore some OOCness. Duo is at the top of his game. When it comes to drag racing he and his engineer Quatre can't be beat. But what will he do when arch rival Heero Yuy enters the scene. 1x2 3x4 5xM YaoiShounen Ai rated R for later chapters.
1. Default Chapter

I do not own Gundam Wing or it's characters. This is my first fic, and if I do anymore I promise I will be making no money from it. I'm broke anyway. This story involves boys being madly in love eachother, if that makes you uncomfortable here's your warning.

These Boots Were Made for Racing

A Heero and Duo story

The day was scorching hot, like any other day out at the track, and that was just how Duo liked it; hot. He loved the smell of burned rubber, high-octane gasoline, and body sweat in the morning. Duo stared out at the screaming crowd, he loved the deafening roar, he loved the adrenaline that pumped through his veins, and he absolutely loved to feel the power of his machine in his hands. Drag racing, an adrenaline junkie's dream come true. A few seconds of intense speed and power, and then it was all over, before you even knew what had happened. Wielding an amazing strength at almost uncontrollable speeds, the beast constantly threatening to wrench itself from your fists. You had to tame her, get her trust you, learn all her quirks, and keep her happy. His car and he had an intimate relationship; a constant fight for dominance that immensely intense at 200 mph. He lived for that kind of speed, that rush, he never was happy with a normal life. Sister Helen had always told him he was a thrill seeker; no he wouldn't walk down that path, not today. He walked up next to his vehicle and tapped the young blonde tinkering with the air level in the front left tire.

Qautre was the same age as Duo, and a genius when it came to the schematics of the car. They made a great team, the blonde would come up with some amazing minute alteration that would shave a tenth of a second off their time, and Duo was a genius when it came to implementing Qautre's designs. Duo's young engineer glanced up at the light tap on his shoulder. Duo smiled and motioned toward the empty lane next to him. Knowing that talking was useless with crowd making such a racket, he had silently asked Qautre if he knew anything about his missing opponent. Qautre just shrugged and stood up, whipping the black oil off his hands with a dirty rag.

Duo was getting bored, and a bored Duo was a dangerous Duo. With no opponent to taunt as entertainment he decided to taunt the crowd that he loved so much. He put one foot up on his baby, and rubbed one palm down her smooth sharp aluminum-alloy lines. He was about to fully launch himself to stand on the hood of his vehicle, when he felt tap on his shoulder. Thinking it was Qautre returning the favor he grabbed the hand, fully intending to swing Qautre around and drag his blonde comrade up too, he was somewhat shocked to turn and find an old grease monkey staring harshly at his hand, which was still in Duo's. Duo chuckled nervously and let go of the Ref's hand.

At the top of his lungs, in order to be heard over the not-so-dull roar of the audience, the Ref shouted into Duo's left ear. "If the other guy doesn't show in the next ten minutes, we have to give it to you."

"Shit." Duo swore. He hated the idea of winning by default. He hated getting all worked up and not getting to release his tension in five seconds of fuel burning fury. He nodded to the Ref as the old man made his way off the track. Duo took a quick glance at Qautre, during which he winked at the blonde engineer, his way of ensuring that mischief was in the air, then hauled himself up onto his hood.

Duo commanded the audience; in his first year in the races he had quickly become the favorite driver on the track. People were drawn to his outgoing, fun loving, personality, he was full of charm and one smile could render an entire stadium speechless. The women loved him because he was attractive, and sensuality seeped from his body in waves. The men supported him because of his talent on the track, his sharp wit, knowledge of all that was cars, and well the guy was just charming there was no denying it. Duo had become a sex symbol in his sport and was recognizable to people who didn't even watch the races. He was in magazines everywhere, not just all the sports ones; he was in people, Rolling Stone, and all kinds of teen magazines. He supposed it was because he was in fact still a teen himself. His most recognizable feature was his three-foot braid swinging down his back, it had become a bit of a trademark, it was definitely a focus in all his pictures. In most posters of himself, his back with the braid was facing the on-looker, and he would peek over his shoulder.

He had always loved adrenaline rushing speed sports. His freshman year he had been a sprinter on the high school team. He loved running the short ones, going all out right from the start and not stopping until the end. That was how he had always approached life. When he had first gotten his license he had fallen in love with the power of machine. His first driving lesson was with Father Maxwell. The Good Father had told him he was a natural in everything but obeying the laws. That was the second time today he had wandered down memory lane, what was up with him? A year later he had traded in foot power for horsepower when he became a sponsored driver and the youngest one in history at the ripe old age of 17, and hadn't looked back in a nearly a year.

The minute Duo had put his hand up while he stood on his racer; the entire audience went silent. Duo waved at the crowd and there was a short burst of cheers. He put his hand up again and the crowd was quiet. He winked at them and the ladies swooned and screamed. Then they were quiet again when Duo cleared his throat to speak. "They tell me my opponent was too busy shaking in his racing boots with fear, to come down here today." At this point shouts and cheers erupted from the stands. "They say that I'm not going to get any action from him today. So I guess it's up to me to make this a real party. If he ain't gonna come, I'm just gonna have to put on a little show for all you people who paid good money for one." The people roared in cheers and catcalls.

And that's when the previously promised mischief, began. Duo slowly unzipped his racing jacket, swaying his hips seductively as he fumbled with his jacket. Catcalls and whoops came from the audience as he slid the jacket off one shoulder, hips still gyrating, a small seductive smile playing across his lips. He pulled the jacket up and off 'accidentally' raising up his tank top undershirt and revealing an expanse of smooth corded ab muscle. He swung his jacket around his head like a cowboy would his hat, making small shallow pelvic thrusts. The crowd went absolutely wild and Duo responded by taking it up a notch. In true Chip and Dale tradition, he ran his jacket through his crotch and deepened his pelvic thrusting. Qautre just shook his head in amused embarrassment, laughing mainly at the fact that Duo still hadn't managed to notice that the opponent's car had pulled up at the start of his little speech and show. Duo did however finally notice this when he began to turning around moving his hips in an orgasm inducing circular motion. He froze when he laid eyes on the other vehicle. The driver already had his helmet on and was leaning against the side of his machine.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show. I had to entertain myself while waiting for your arrival." Duo then lowered his voice and with amusement shining in his eyes he held the other driver's attention. "By the way, how long have you been there?"

"Well let's just say I definitely intend to show you some action today." A sexy nasal voice drifted to Duo's ears from the opponent's helmet. For the first time in Duo's life, he couldn't think of anything to say. Qautre started to crack up at the look on his teammate's' face, which earned him a glare. Duo would have said something to Qautre if a movement hadn't caught the corner of Duo's eye. He glanced over at his opponent who was in the process of removing his helmet. And for the second time in his life he was struck speechless, the guy was the epitome of gorgeous. His mysterious confidence, his dark, brooding, deep blue eyes shrouded by a mop of wild dark brown hair. Wild; that was the only word you could describe him, and yet at the same time he seemed so controlled. This was best explained by his eyes; which were so cold they burned, but that intense flame was perfectly contained to just his eyes. The rest of his body was completely calm, his face totally neutral, except for the almost imperceptible smirk that was forming on his lips as he looked Duo up and down. And Duo was graced by that accented voice once again, and this time he got to watch the words form on those wonderfully tempting lips. There was this slight pout to them that never went away even when the guy was smirking.

The opponent climbed on to his car hood just like Duo and, to Duo's surprise, winked at him. "Well, since I made you and the crowd wait, I suppose I should make this a little more interesting then. What do you say, are you in?" A full on smirk graced the driver's sexy mouth, as he continued to stare Duo down.

"What exactly would I be agreeing to Mr. . . " Duo returned his own irresistible grin with a quick wink.

"Heero Yuy." Was the response and Duo's eyes went slightly wide.

"Well, is that so, I've been waiting for my chance to finally beat you, and put a rest to any doubts of my ability. I'm Duo Maxwell." Heero actually raised an impressed eyebrow at Duo, of course he was impressed; Duo was a month younger than him and yet he had been racing a month longer. Heero had joined the racing prosat the same time as Duo, they were the same age and since then had been matching each other's records by hundredths of a second. They were the fans favorite rivals even though they had yet to race eachother.

"Well, if you have no doubts about your abilities, then what do you say we place a little wager on this race. You know, to make a better show for the audience." Heero commented, that infuriating smirk still firmly in place.

"They say the Devil's a bettin' man, so what do you have in mind." Heero almost raised an eyebrow again at the strange comment, but then remembered that Duo Maxwell's nickname was death, well he called himself Shinigami, which translated to the God of Death. He claimed it was because he could all his opponents by so much that they wished they could just die of humiliation. A superfluous excuse, Heero figured that it was ploy by the boy's sponsors to draw attention to him, though with that hair Heero couldn't understand a need to draw any more attention to the boy. If nothing else it was his rivalry with Duo that had made him famous, not necessarily his talent. That boy, people were just drawn to him, and even though he hated it, he too had been drawn in by the boys smile, but more by his voice. The boy could sing like nothing Heero had ever heard before. He had only had this privilege once before when he had first started racing. Duo and he had never gotten to race, but while Duo's pit area he had heard a voice, a voice that called to him. He had never met Duo before, and he didn't stay long enough to be seen, but he had slipped into Duo's garage and saw him sitting there, alone, singing. It was a sad song that Heero hadn't recognized at the time, it was beautiful though, and he had been waiting for the chance to race this enigma ever since. Now he had his chance, and what the hell was he thinking with this stupid bet thing, he had definitely lost his mind.

"Name your bargain, and I'll name mine. Whoever wins this race gets whatever they had requested, with one exception. If it's money you ask for it can only be as much as the prize money for this race. I don't' have a million dollars to go throwing around and I'm sure you don't either." Duo quirked an inquisitive eyebrow, then slowly a mischievous and sexy smile spread across face.

"Don't worry betting money is too boring, I want you to fear loosing this race so I know you're racing your best.That way everyone will know without a doubt that I'm the greatest." Duo's grin widened by just a fraction. "When I win you will have to give me your car."

"Wing?" Something crossed Heero's face, though it passed so quickly that Duo didn't have time to determine what it was. "Fine, but when I win . . ."

Duo cringed knowing that Heero would request his Death Scythe, and if he had Duo's car he would know the alterations that improve his time. Duo took a chance and glanced at Heero, whose smirk had only widened. Damn why couldn't Duo just keep his mouth shut. Qautre just shook his head in disapproval; Duo always got himself into these types of situations. Somehow he usually managed to get out of them, but this was different; Heero Yuy was good, really good. A deadly smirk spread across Heero's features, and for a second Duo almost regreted agreeing to this, amlost.

"When I win, I want a kiss from Death."


	2. Living Out Loud

I still don't own Gundam Wing and I'm still just as broke so please no sueing. Oh and this is still my first fic so . . . uhm go ahead and read it, if you dare . . .muahahahaha. I'm aware that it's not very good so how about we focus on it's potential. . .heh . .yeah potential (damn it's hard to type sarcasm).

These Boots Were Made for Racing

Living Out Loud

"When I win, I want a kiss from Death." Duo's jaw just dropped, while Heero raised a daring eyebrow. Did he know just how sexy he was when he did that? Duo closed his mouth, then opened it, then closed it again. Finally a grin snuck onto his face.

"Are you sure that's what you want, Death's kiss can change or end your life. But, if that's all you want then I think I'm getting off easy. Which I don't really like but I'm not stupid, I'll take it." Duo grinned but it wasn't nice, it was a nasty smirk that seemed to guarantee pain.

"I beg to differ, I think that I'm, by far, getting the better end of this deal." Heero's smirk was back in place, his air of confidence restored.

"Just don't fall in love with me or you'll be in real danger." It was meant to be taken as a joke, a barb, but Heero saw hidden sincerity in Duo's eyes and it made him wonder. He was taken aback for a second, but recovered quickly when Duo's infamous smile was turned on him.

"Hey, if you two are done, the rest of us would like to start the race." The voice came from the other side of Heero's car, where a young man with cinnamon brown hair that covered half his face was making his way toward the two drivers. Duo heard a gasp come from Qautre's direction.

"T...Trowa, is that you?" Qautre's soft, lilting voice sounded hesitant and yet hopeful. Duo had never heard the young man so insecure; so unsure of himself. Duo glanced back at the newcomer to see his reaction, which wasn't much. His eyebrows lifted slightly in recognition, his features softened if only slightly, and a small curve found its way to his face.

"Great you two know each other." Duo let out an exasperated sigh. "Heero Yuy I would appreciate it if you didn't use your pit crew to seduce my engineer." At this Qautre flushed bight pink.

"It's good to see you again, little one." Heero raised his eyebrows at his teammates strange behavior, to which Trowa returned his own quirk and a small half grin. In response Heero nodded his head and the silent conversation was over.

Duo gawked at the exchange. "You guys are weird."

"Duo, this is Trowa, This was my rival at MIT during my time there before I left to join you." Quatre said meekly. Duo's grin increased ten fold.

"_So_, this is the infamous MIT rival." Duo drawled on, extending the length of each word. "Geez Q, you make it sound like I forced you to drop, you already had two freaking degrees, what were you sticking around there for?"

Qautre's blush only deepened. "I had some unfinished business, that I suppose is still unfinished, right Trowa?"

"Yes, I believe we have a score to settle." Trowa walked over to Qautre and extended his right hand, intending to shake hands with his rival. Qautre, on the other hand, merely pushed the hand away instead giving the taller boy a slightly lingering hug. Trowa smiled faintly and returned the hug.

"I hope that wasn't to forward of me." Qautre backed up, a light flush on his cheeks.

"Of course not, it has been a long time." Trowa still held Qautre's arm as he gazed at the boy with an unreadable expression.

"Too long." Qautre offered a dazzling smile to his old friend? What had they been back then? Seeing Trowa again was bringing back emotions that Qautre had nearly forgotten how much he missed. Despite how confused Trowa made him, he loved not needing to understand this.

"Okay I take back what I said earlier, _you _two are weird." Heero smirked at this and faced his opponent. Duo caught the movement in the corner of his and turned to face Heero, and winked at him.

"Alright, if all you guys are ready we would like to start a race here. Thanks for the show Maxwell I think my wife almost left me. And I don't mean that in a bad way." The Ref had come back over to the track when the two drivers didn't strap in for a race.

"Now if you don't mind, we're going to start this drag race in two minutes and if one of you isn't ready to go, well that's just too damn bad." He slapped Duo's car, he and the boy had a personal relationship ever since he let the kid sneak into his first race without any registration. It was hard for people to get a break in this business, and the kid had a genuine love for the race that he hadn't seen in a long time. 'Everything is so commercialized these days, the kid would have never been picked up by a sponsor, you have to know somebody to get anywhere in this world. So I helped out a true lover of the sport, we need more like him anyway. Yuy reminds me of that, the once or twice that I talked to him, he was just lucky enough to know someone who knows someone that could get him on the track. I hope Duo does well, hell he's been fantastic so far, the kid deserves some joy after all he's been through.'

"Yeah, yeah Howie. Don't get your pink lacy panties in a bunch, I want to race this guy even more than the crowd wants me to." And on that final note Duo did a twirl on the hood of his car, putting his jacket back on at the exact same time. He then crouched down and did a back flip off his car onto the street. To top it all off he glanced back over his shoulder at Heero and blew him a kiss.

"Howard." Heero nodded, then accepted Duo's unspoken challenge by going into a handstand on the edge of his vehicle, holding it, then pushing off completing a single flip. To top off his display Heero fired off an imaginary gun made by his fingers in Duo's direction.

Duo slammed his helmet onto his head easily and glided into the driver's seat of DeathScythe. He couldn't believe how much this guy was getting to him. True they were the same age, which was rare out here, true he never really got a response out of the older drivers except for a flick of the bird, and true the guy was a walking, talking (sort of), sex god, but all that aside, Duo shouldn't be so thrown off his game by him.

Heero too put on his helmet and slid into his car, with a lot less flare than Duo, he gripped his steering wheel willing the race to start so he could focus. It was too easy for the longhaired racer to distract him. He had never had this problem before; he could always block out unnecessary emotions and focus on what he had to do. Though he had never really been attracted to anyone before, but he thought that this is what it would feel like. Trowa was certainly no help, Heero could hardly find the words to ask the question, and Trowa's less than sufficient description didn't tell him anything. They really were hopeless; thank the powers that be that Trowa had found Qautre again. The guy had been searching for the blonde ever since he graduated so unexpectedly. What a coincidence they would end up in drag racing...

"Don't worry Heero, I'll take really good care of your machine. I'll use it as my backup, just in case DeathScythe ever needs a break." Duo hollered from his car, trying to get Heero riled up to ensure a great race.

"And every night I'll cherish the memory of your kiss." Heero smirked at the implications of his statement, 'now if Duo were a smart boy...'

There was a sputtering noise from Duo's car. 'Guess he's got some brains in there somewhere.'

'Then again, maybe not.' Heero thought as the longhaired devil yelled, "Cherish this!" and stuck his middle finger out the passenger window. "I'll blow you a kiss from the winner's circle." Duo spat out as he turned the key and revved his engine.

Heero answered by gunning his own engine. He was about to throw Duo's trash talk back in his face when he noticed the lights change. And with that both driver's completely focused on the race and it alone. To them nothing else existed; Duo was deaf to the cheers of the crowd, and Heero could see nothing but the strip of asphalt in front of him.

The lights changed one more time, the second orange light, it had only been seconds but an eternity had passed for the drivers waiting for the race to start. Duo had been gripping his wheel so hard he could see his knuckles turning white. Heero was so tense you could see the definition lines of the muscles in his arms and shoulders. Neither one dared to blink even though their eyes were stinging. And then it was go time; in one instant both drivers released the fury of their vehicles in a deafening thunder clap. The speed was so intense that they could hardly see straight, holding it on good faith that if they kept the wheel as straight as possible they would stay in their own lane. The steering wheel threatened to rip from their grip, the whole car shook with the sheer force of the powerful engine.

Out of the corner of his helmet Duo could see Heero catching up to him, he had started out first but only by a hair. Now they were neck and neck, exchange only a few centimeters gap back and forth. There was no way to tell who was going to win this. Duo had shifted as high as he could go, and was hitting the gas with all his might, and still he couldn't shake the other car. Neither driver had participated in such an arduous race. They had never had such a challenge in another driver before. Duo let out a battle cry and closed his eyes completely as he passed over the finish line.

And then, just as soon as it had began, the race was over. Drag races were the sprints of the car racing community, over in only few seconds. To Duo it felt like a few lifetimes had passed, he thought he would be locked in that battle for a centimeter forever. His eyes remained closed and he sat there, waiting for Qautre to come and get him and tell him the news. He found himself wondering what a kiss from Heero would be like, he quickly shook off that thought; Duo Maxwell never looses. He took a sidelong glance at Heero out of his helmet, the guy had already removed his. He sat there, eyes closed, head tilted back, breath coming a little fast. Duo followed a single drop of sweat as it made a path down the side of Heero's face. He glanced back up and noticed a pair of burning eyes memorizing him in return. He removed his helmet, and Heero just continued to stare, neither said anything, they didn't move, and for a second Duo thought it wouldn't be so bad if he lost this one. 'Might be worth it.'

It was then that Duo finally noticed the light tapping at his door. "Hey Q-tip, what's the word."

The young blonde looked like he had seen a ghost, or something equally unbelievable. "Uhm Duo, I don't know how to tell you this, I didn't think this could happen..."

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Living Out Loud is movie staring Holly Hunter, Queen Latifa, and Danny De Vito. It's sort of about this chick that's now single who kisses a total stranger. And I found out, thanks to Amazon, that it's original title was The Kiss, so it's kind of fitting, ne? Anyway if you're feeling extremely kind reveiws and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.


	3. High Speed

Yep same drill, Don't own it, never will, now I must go cry in a corner. Thanks to those who have reviewed so far, you all are wonderful. I hope you like this chapter.

These Boots Were Made for Racing

High Speed

"Uhm Duo, I don't know how to tell you this, I didn't think this could happen..."

'Well looks like I lost, I better get out there and be a gentlemen about it. Do I really want to kiss the guy who just delivered my first defeat; but Duo Maxwell is a man of his word,'

"Duo, you guys tied." The blonde just stared at his clipboard like it was an alien, or a complex mathematical equation that he just couldn't understand.

"What, how is that possible." Duo gaped at his blonde engineer.

"They say that if one of you was in the lead, it was by so little that their machines couldn't measure it." Qautre tossed the clipboard at Duo as he pulled himself out of the driver's window. He glanced down at the results just to confirm Qautre wasn't messing with his mind. Nope, it was all there, black and white. He took a chance and looked over at Heero, he assumed that what he saw was a look of astonishment on the other driver's face. The crowd was silent as they stared at the scoreboard. No one was sure what this meant, would there be a rematch, what about the bet between the two drivers.

"So now what do we do cowboy, looks like our bet is off. Too bad, I really wanted your car." Duo smiled smugly, but he was seething inside, he hated ties more than losses. Loosing at least gave you a goal for improvement, but a tie, a tie just sucked.

"Do you consider a tie winning, because I know I don't." Heero had also stepped out of his vehicle and had begun unzipping his jacket. Duo watched as the scene of Heero stripping out of his jacket played before his eyes in slow motion. Then it suddenly registered that Heero had asked him a question.

"Of course not." He spit out venomously. "I consider it worse than a loss."

"Good, I think of it more like a loss myself and since we both lost, we both need to pay up on our halves of the bet." There was something in Heero's eye that made Duo feel like he was water to a man lost in the desert.

"Are you that eager to lose your car?" Duo taunted.

"No, but I believe the reward will more than make up for it."

"Then hand over your keys and I'll make good on my end of the deal." Duo smirked at his rival, and it was almost evil.

"I'm sure you will." Heero stared back at the braided wonder daring the other boy to look away first. Duo held out as long as he could against those searing eyes, but eventually looked away. His eyes found Quatre huddled in a conversation with his enemy's crazy-haired engineer. Said enemy's cool, nasally voice caught Duo's immediate attention. "Hey Trowa, bring me my keys."

Trowa fished around in the bag he was carrying, and held up a set of what looked like normal car keys and tossed them over to Heero.

"Wait a second, why does he have your keys, didn't you just drive with them? What the hell are you trying to pull?" Duo had no idea what Heero was doing, and being in the dark pissed him off.

"You did say that you wanted my car right?" Heero was smirking evilly; he seemed very pleased with himself. "Well, here it is, the newest baby in the mustang series. She's parked right out in the front lot."

"You, you tricked me." Duo just gawked at the nerve of this guy. "We were betting your race car."

Heero walked over to Duo and tossed the keys at him. Duo barely caught them and glared at them like they had tricked him instead of Heero. "You clever bastard." Duo spat out.

"I can't help that you misinterpreted the bet." Heero smirked and stepped closer to Duo, causing the braided man's breath to hitch.

"I suppose you want my end of the bargain now." Duo smirked, though he noticed he was blushing slightly at Heero's close proximity.

"Yes" Was the deep, almost growling, response from Heero. It sent chills down Duo's spine. Duo tentatively reached out his hand. Heero was so close that Dou's hand immediately found the other boy's. Duo pulled Heero closer to him and kept holding onto his hand.

Heero scolded himself for loosing his self-control when he noticed that he was breathing a little erratically and his adrenaline was pumping causing that butterfly feeling. He cursed in his mind when he blushed at Duo's hand on his hip.

Duo smiled then slowly brought Heero's hand up to his mouth and kissed it. Instantly he completely let go and took a step back from Heero, who just stood there with his eyes closed waiting. He looked so adorable Duo couldn't help but chuckle a little. At this sound Heero opened his eyes.

"You kissed my hand."

"Yep."

"My hand."

"Yep."

"But..." Heero frowned.

Duo's smirk grew wider by just a fraction. "I can't help it if you misunderstood the bet."

"Sly devil." Heero muttered. "I guess I deserved that." Heero shook his head and made to walk away when he noticed his engineer with his new blonde friend walking over to them. The blonde was cracking up, and even Trowa had a grin on his face.

"That was hilarious you two." The blonde managed to get out in between giggles.

"Oi, you two." There was a gruff shout somewhere in the distance behind the drivers. Duo turned to see Howard running down the track.

"Hey Howie, you got some news for us?" Duo waved to the man who he had come to respect almost as a son to a father.

"Yeah." Howard panted as he reached where the cars were parked. "You two are gonna' have to do a rematch, but it'll have to be the last race of the week, all the other slots are full." Howard ran everything at this track. He knew everything that was going down from race times to individual crewmember's names. He also ran a shop on the side that specialized in these high performance machines. That's were Duo got all his major repairs done because Howie charged him half of what the other guys did. Then again, besides Quatre, Howard was the only other person that knew what Duo did with the prize money. And for this reason, if the kid would let him, he would do the repairs for free.

"Thanks Howie. Looks like I'll get another chance to dust you Heero." Duo smiled, he really liked the idea of racing his rival again.

"Hey, does your pit crew know the number of your garage. You guys need to get your cars put away so the next race can start." Howard told them as a young man ran up to him telling him the next set was ready to go.

"Yeah you got it, see ya 'round Howie." Duo walked to his pit area and handed his keys to Jerrod. Howard had assigned this guy to Duo's pit crew knowing that he would be a great addition to the kid's team. Jerrod had worked in Howard's shop for two years, and the guy's attention to detail was amazing. He was hard working and smart, and let's face it Howard could have used the help but he wanted the kid to have the best so he could be the best.

Heero also gave his keys to member of his pit crew and told him the number of the garage and what the car needed. Duo did none of this, because he knew that in the few minutes it took for Jerrod to drive the car to the garage, he would know everything it needed.

"Hey, Trowa and I were gonna' head to a bar or club or something tonight to catch up on old times. You two want to join us?" Qautre smiled, wide eyed and innocently, even Duo twitched at the sheer volume of persuasiveness that only the little engineer could have.

"Alright Qautre call me before you're leaving and I'll meet up with you guys, until then I'm gonna' take my new car for a spin and see how she runs." Duo winked and strode swinging Heero's keys around his finger.

"Then can I take your car Duo? Trowa and I are going to get lunch but he drove here with Heero and I came with you, so neither of us has a car." Quatre said as he held his silent friend's hand.

Duo eyed the two, Qautre always was overly affectionate, on more than one occasion people had accused them of being a couple because of the blonde's affinity for contact, but the tall one didn't seem to mind at all. 'Hmmm' Duo thought, 'maybe there's more to this little relationship than what Qautre says.'

"Yeah, go right ahead, I wont be needing it. I suppose that means that you have no way to get out of here Heero, and since I'm a kind soul, I'll offer to take you wherever you need to go." Duo was still swinging those keys like a four year old with his new favorite toy.

"In my own car, how humane." The amount of sarcasm in the air could choke somebody.

"Not yours anymore pal." Duo let out a quick bark of a laugh.

"Oh, and Duo could you pick him up for the club too?" Qautre was doing that innocent sweet thing again, damn him.

"I never said I was going." Heero spoke in terms of finality. He felt he really needed to have some time away from the braided menace that taunted his senses.

"Oh, I suppose you didn't." Quatre looked upset; that was even worse than the wide-eyed hope look. Nobody, not even Mr. Unaffected himself could resist a teary eyed Qautre.

Heero held firm, but occasionally cast the blonde a wayward glance, Duo could see the entire process of the stoic boy's resolve melting away under that pitiful stare. He glanced at Duo and the very slight glint of hope in the longhaired driver's eye was all he needed.

"Alright I'll go. I'll need to stop by my hotel first." Heero already began walking in the direction of his car.

"Huh, oh yeah sure. Heh, I can't wait to drive my new car." Duo's smirk widened and he dangled the car keys in front of Heero's face.

"No. I drive." And with that Heero snatched the item jingling in front of his eyes.

"Hey did you forget our bet. Those our mine." Duo leaned heavily on the smug boy trying to grab his keys back. Heero took in a deep breath when the top Duo's head passed by his face. He shook his head thinking how much he was loosing it.

"You sway too much when you walk, it puts you off balance and they were easy to take. Besides, she's a delicate machine, I'll teach you how to handle her." Heero opened the passenger door and bowed as Duo got in.

"I'm a pro, I can handle this housewife's car. And I do not sway when I walk, unless your paying really close attention Yuy." Duo accused as he pouted in the passenger seat.

"Yes you do, like a girl. Don't forget your seatbelt." Heero had an untraceable smirk on his lips.

"You need to stop staring at my ass, what time am I picking you up for our little outing." Duo ignored putting on his seatbelt to make a point, exactly what that point was he didn't know, but he sure as hell wasn't going to do what this guy told him.

Heero took notice of Duo's refusal of a seat belt, and an evil twist graced his lips. He threw the gear into reverse, hit the gas and swerved out of the parking space. Duo's body flew forward, and he nearly smacked his forehead on the dash. Heero then threw the car into first gear and slammed on the gas again, snapping Duo's head back as he sped out of the parking lot.

"Damn it Heero, fine I'll wear a damn seatbelt." Duo furiously ripped at his seatbelt, and jammed it into its lock. 'This has got to be the most infuriating man I have ever met.'

"And . . ." At this point Heero knew trying to get the braided boy to say he had a nice a car was pushing the boy's buttons. And he knew he was doin it just to get a reaction out of the braided man, but the other was doing the same to him, so it was fair.

"And I'm glad my new car isn't a piece of shit after all." Duo crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the obnoxious racer.

Heero just shook his head at the antics of his rival. He couldn't help but taunt the man, the range of reactions Duo had intrigued him

"Well Trowa, I think tonight is going to be very interesting." Qautre had finally gotten his giggles under control after the two driver's had left the parking lot.

"For some reason whenever I'm around you, life always seems to get interesting." Trowa winked jokingly at his blonde companion. "Do you bring this on yourself?"

"I must, I'm just not sure how." Qautre laughed once and started walking towards Trowa's car. Trowa smiled softly and followed the young man he had missed so much.

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High Speed is a movie about a kid, Raf, that comes from a really poor upbringing and is obsessed with racing bikes. So is his best who comes from a pretty good family. Some things happen and the best friends drift appart. They later reunite on the track as rivals looking for revenge for childhood betrayals. There is whole lot more to this movie, but I thought it fit.


	4. City Boys Dream of Beaches

Same Disclamers apply - Don't own it or the movie that the title is named after. That movie is an older one, I won't go into detail on it, I don't think a lot of people liked it, but it did win an award - The Atlanta Film something or other. Anyway please enjoy!

These Boots Were Made for Racing

City Boys Dream of Beaches

On the radio played a soft-rock song about love or life or some equally obscure and overdone notion. Heero found his attention repeatedly drifting from the road to the creature sitting in his passenger seat. Duo had unrolled the window and stuck his elbow and half of his heart shaped face was leaning on it watching the city fly by. Wisps of hair that had fallen loosely out of his braid during the race now softly floated around him. He was a picture of serenity and yet in those eyes a storm was always on the horizon. Those eyes, they were violet, the most beautiful and unique shade of color Heero had ever seen. Most of the time they were an intense indigo, but right now with the sun hitting them they had changed into a purple storm. Maybe it wasn't the sun, maybe it was whatever his mind was lost in that turned them to that amazing color. Heero knew this color would haunt his dreams just like the boy's voice had been doing. He hadn't been able to keep is mind off his rival since he had accidentally walked in on him singing. The song and the boy had been so depressingly optimistic; he had been hooked.

Duo turned to face his adversary, he really was having a good time with this guy and he couldn't figure out why, honestly the guy was just flat out frustrating. Duo had become obsessed with this young man during the race because he had been a challenge on the track, but now the boy had become a challenge off the road too. He was definitely the most exhausting man he had ever met, he got the distinct feeling that the boy with bed tossed hair was trying to get a rise out him. Now he just wished the boy would try to get a different kind of rise out of him. He stopped his thoughts there, no way was he going to think that way about his biggest rival. Even if his biggest rival was the sexiest thing he had ever seen with those brooding blue eyes and ruffled hair that begged to have fingers run through it, which the guy compulsively did every fifteen minutes to push his long bangs out of those damn eyes. Man he needed something else to focus on.

He flipped the radio to a rock station. "What was that sissy crap? I thought only love sick prom queens listened to that kind of music." Duo head banged a little to the bass of the rock song and tapped on the dash in front of him, completely in beat with the music. He started to sing very quietly along with the song, but stopped abruptly as though he just realized what he was doing.

"So what hotel are you staying at?" Duo kept his eyes focused on the road. "The races will last all this week, I'm not racing tomorrow but I'll go down and check out the competition."

"You're very dedicated." Heero had spoken aloud the thought that had been plaguing him, how could someone who seemed so carefree, be so dedicated to goals he had set for himself. Most kids their age were busy falling asleep in their high school classrooms. Heero was almost positive that winning every race wasn't the braided man's main goal, but he couldn't figure out what truly drove the boy to work as hard as he did.

"Yeah well, you got to be in this business, or you're going to get left behind. I'm not going to let anybody beat me." Duo suddenly seemed so deadly serious, his entire persona shifted to something darker. He looked like he was lost in his thoughts, or memories. It was as if half of Duo was the guy you saw by day, the carefree, sarcastic, confident man. But the other half of Duo lived in the past and was a much darker more solemn being. It made Heero wonder what had happened in the boy's past that he couldn't let go of. There was so much under the surface Duo Maxwell, if you didn't pay attention to the little details, the small sly comments, you would miss it all and just assume he was a reckless punk that loved the kicks of the fast lane. He was amazing at covering up what he was really thinking, and he never slipped up and gave away information about himself. If Heero wanted to find out about the mystery that was Duo Maxwell, the only thing he could was hope to get the longhaired boy to trust him enough to tell him about himself.

"I'm staying at the Plaza." Heero changed the topic by answering Duo's question, he could tell Duo was getting uncomfortable and he didn't want to force the braided man to talk about something if he didn't want to. He didn't really know him well enough for that, not to mention Heero wasn't the type of person to hold long meaningful conversations.

"Oh yeah, I think that's where they put all the driver's for this race. I forgot about that, what's your room number, maybe we're close to each other?" Duo was thankful to get his mind off his need to win this race, he didn't want Heero to know anything about that. He didn't think Heero was the kind of guy who would pity somebody, but he still didn't want Heero to know and he wasn't even sure why, that was just a part of him that he wasn't ready to share with people.

"I'm in room 307." The hotel had been nice looking when Heero had arrived yesterday, not extremely fancy, but putting a bunch of racecar drivers in a really rich hotel probably wouldn't have been the best of ideas. It had a nice location, far enough away from down town to avoid getting crowded, but still close enough to drive there in less than ten minutes. It had a large area out back that contained a pool, a hot tub, and a lot of grass. It was four stories and spacious, each room had a huge bathroom with a sunken tub and a shower. Hotels were always booked in advance for the race drivers, even though the price of the room was included in their racing fees it still helped to book ahead of time to ensure that the participants wouldn't end up fifty blocks from the track. They even got rooms for the crew. Heero and Trowa had opted to share a room and split the cost. It wasn't unusual for team members to share rooms; it was cheaper and easier to go over strategies especially for the driver and his main engineer. Quatre and Duo had also decided to share a room for these practical reasons, but also because they loved to hang out until all hours of the night, and if they weren't doing that they were playing practical jokes on each other.

"I'm in room 320, we're on the same floor. That will make it easier when I come to get you for the club tonight." The station changed songs and Duo seamlessly transitioned into the new beat. He reached over and bopped Heero lightly on the top of the head when the drummer hit nothing but symbols. Heero glared at the enigmatic racecar driver, but couldn't help the small twitch of his lips. Duo was lost in his own world creating his beat with everything in sight. When he slapped Heero's knee for the tenth time, a little higher up on the thy for this beat, the hand stayed in it's spot. When the hand didn't move after almost a minute Heero started to get very uncomfortable, he glanced over at the source of this pleasurable torture and found Duo sticking his tongue out at the six-year-old boy in the hatchback next to them. The boy was making grotesque faces and breathing onto the car window. Heero squirmed under the warm hand, his face betrayed nothing but he was afraid his body might eventually. Duo had been open in interviews about the fact that when it came to love gender wasn't an issue for him, but that didn't mean he wanted Duo to find out about his very specific attraction. Well he may have been a little obvious with the dare to kiss, but that could be taken as a publicity stunt, and it was a lot less definite than the evidence that hand was going to produce in his lap.

The hatchback turned off onto another street and Duo found himself hyper aware of the heat penetrating into his hand. He removed it as nonchalantly as he could, but the feeling of that tense corded muscle lingered in his mind. With nothing else to focus on he found his mind drifting to that feeling as images of that muscle bared and sweaty flooded his mind. His imagination went further and there were blue eyes and wonderfully wild chocolate brown hair. In Duo's mind bodies began to take form and move with each other. Duo quickly stuck his head out of the window to let the cold wind blow sharply at his face and slap those images out of his mind. He thanked all the stars not yet in the sky when he saw the hotel come into view, he was still way too aware of his rival's close proximity. Heero turned left into the front of the hotel. They both quickly jumped out of the car, glad for the distance, and Heero handed the keys over to the valet.

"You sure do treat those keys like they're yours." Duo said as he held the door open for his rival.

" Hn." Heero brushed past the braided man and headed for the elevator. His mind was still reeling from his time he spent alone in the car with Duo. The had talked and yet Heero still knew nothing about him, if it was on purpose he was damn good at it. Duo joined him in his wait for the elevator, when it opened and they stepped in the boys made sure to put a lot of distance between them. Heero hated the fact that when he got close to this guy he lost control, his adrenaline would tie his stomach in knots. He knew he was going to be in trouble at a club, that's why he hadn't agreed to go, but damn that blonde kid has super powers or something.

"Ooh, the strong silent type." Duo batted his eyelashes like a schoolgirl then let out a barking chuckle. "So what time should I wander down this hall to get you for the festivities?"

"Seven I guess. It's still hard to believe I was talked into this." Heero waited and watched as the number of his floor lit up. Duo too kept his eyes focused on anything but the sexy man standing in the enclosed space with him.

They stepped out of the elevator and the doors slid closed behind them. For a moment their eyes met and a jolt of electric adrenaline passed through their bodies. Duo quickly looked away, "yeah, that Quatre has got mind powers, there's no fighting him, he could convince a man in the desert that water was bad for him." Duo patted him on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad that you lost Quatre, you'd have to not be human to win against those baby blue eyes."

"Yeah, not human." Heero mumbled, and began to walk off toward his room. Duo gave him a funny look, he hadn't caught what Heero had said but the guy just walked away with no warning.

"Okay, so I'll see you at seven." Duo turned and strolled down to his room, he whistled an old blues tune he had heard while he was in New Orleans last week. He looked around the hotel as he walked to his room, he hated hotel carpet, it was always red. He pulled the keys to his room out of his pocket and fumbled with them, trying to remember which way was up for the lock. He opened the generic door, the gold of the room numbers flickering with the shadows as he pushed the door. When he entered he turned around to close his door and caught a last glimpse of Heero as he turned into his room. It was quick, but they locked eyes one last time before Duo hurriedly closed his door.

A shower, what he really needed right now was a shower. He was so tense his shoulder muscles felt like solid masses of rock. He gently massaged and prodded his sore muscles as he walked over to the linen closet and grabbed one of hotel's white fluffy towels. He breathed in the fresh clean sent of unknown washing detergent, he never could get his own towels to smell quite like this, almost like they were hung outside in the fresh breeze to dry. He had put all his shower supplies in the bathroom last night. He walked into the fairly large bathroom and took a minute to debate between the shower and the sunken tub, he decided to stick with a shower, he really needed the water pressure tonight to relieve his aches from the race. His mind whispered to him 'You're not usually this tense after a race,' and he quickly told himself to shut up.

He turned the water up to a near boiling hot, he loved the water as hot as it could get, if his skin wasn't bright pink in five minutes it wasn't hot enough. He stripped out of his racing gear starting with those damn boots, they killed his feet by the end of the day. When he was completely undressed he pulled out the rubber band around the end of his braid and shook his chestnut locks loose. He stepped into the shower, the steam already beginning to fog up the windows and mirrors. He started by soaking his hair all the way through so he could easily pull it over his shoulder in front of him. He pushed the head of the shower down and stepped back into it letting the pounding water work out all the kinks that were imbedded in his muscles. He let out a sigh and grabbed his shampoo. So he massaged his scalp a lot longer than what was needed to get the shampoo in, hell he was tense and it felt damn good.

He flipped his soapy hair up and blindly groped for his luffa and body soap. He found the scrubber but dropped the soap, a squirt of blue liquid now making it's way down toward the drain. He reached down and picked it up already able to smell the fresh ocean breeze aroma, his favorite scent. He loved things that smelled fresh, it made him feel clean for a while, he never felt clean anymore. Using the luffa, he roughly scrubbed all over his body turning himself even pinker. The smell of the ocean soap assaulted his nose and triggered his favorite relaxing place in his mind, the beach at sunset. Yeah all right so it was a cliché, but he had only been to the beach once and it was when he was young and nothing had yet gone wrong in his life. Well other than the fact that he was an orphan on the streets, but he considered his life great. He was too young at the time to know how bad he was living and he was happy during those days with Solo.

His imagination took him to a small beach cove closed off on both sides by a cascading cliff. The ocean was a beautiful bright blue, for some reason this time the blue seemed a lot sharper and deeper of a shade. The red-orange from the sun drew a line straight down the middle of the ocean. It touched his cheeks with a faint pink-orange glow, and highlighted the red strands in his hair. In his mind he looked to his left and discovered that he wasn't alone. Standing by the cliff was a man with hopelessly messy brown hair. The sun tinted the young man's lean muscular body to a golden bronze color.

"What are you doing here?" Duo watched himself walk over to stand behind the young man. He placed his fingertips on the golden skin and let them travel down the sculpted arm. The young man turned to face him, it was Heero in all his half naked glory. He was wearing a pair of black swim trunks low on his hips, and that infuriating almost-smirk that drove Duo nuts. Duo took a step back, why was his imagination doing this, it was such an irresistible torture.

"So you're afraid of me. Of what I offer you, of what we could be." Heero closed the distance Duo had created, and reached out his hand to let it rest on Duo's hip. The braided man's breath hitched and he couldn't control himself, he leaned forward into the man stroking his hipbone.

"I'm not afraid. I'm doing it for your own good, getting attached to you could mean your death." Duo whispered as he leaned and touched his body flush against the other man. He gasped and released his breath against Heero's neck when their flesh met. Heero shivered at the contact and the warm breath against skin. Heero's arms encircled the other man's waist and stroked his lower back.

"I feel healthy, wouldn't you agree." Heero's entrancing monotone caressed Duo's ear as he pressed the hardness of his lower body into Duo's thy, his fingers digging into and massaging the driver's hips. Duo moaned into Heero's shoulder.

"We can't do this, I can't do this." Duo began to struggle. He looked into Heero's eyes and found himself hypnotized by the ocean in those orbs. That face was so tragically beautiful, and those eyes, that tempting mouth, and the voice that flowed from it like water. He was devastatingly handsome, Duo could barely hold himself back. He was panting heavily in the shower, his hand began to travel down his body seeking release from this intense sexual pressure. It traveled lower, caressing his abdomen. In his mind it was Heero's hands traveling all over his body, encouraging tiny moans to fall from his lips. Their hands ran desperately over each other's bodies, trying to touch anything and everything all at once. Duo watched as Heero's eyes closed tight and a panting moan escaped from that wonderful mouth. His lips just barely, and yet not at all, brushing against Duo's jaw. Duo leaned in slowly with the intent to capture those tempting lips with his own. He could almost feel Heero's breath mingle with his own, could almost taste the man in his mouth. His whole body begged for this contact, the agonizing tension in his groin was threatening to explode in fiery bliss. He was so close, he wanted this so bad.

"And that's exactly why I can't." He said after a long decisive sigh. He ripped himself out of his fantasy very reluctantly. He turned around and spun the dial all the way to cold. The freezing blast of water that hit him definitely knocked out the remnants of the fantasy. 'Now my relaxation image is ruined for me.' He let the cold wash away any last trace of his arousal before he flipped the water off and stepped out of the shower. He was still a little tired and a little tense but he pulled his hair into a loose wet braid and wrapped a towel around his waist. He grabbed his dirty race suit and threw it in the hamper. Tugging his towel a little tighter around his hips he stepped out of the bathroom, a wall of smoke escaping with him. When he stepped out from the steamy haze he froze.

"How the hell did you get in here."

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Thanks so much to everyone that's been reviewing, starting with this chapter nothing is prewritten so I hope it doesn't all go down the drain now, updates may be a bit slower though. So if you like what you read or see what I can improve please review, it makes a first timer like me very happy. Oh I also take tips on HTML coding for webpages, or any tips at all, cuz it's my first time doing that too, and it's looking kind of pitiful. It's like one morning I woke up and decided I'd take a crack at this whole 'internet' thingy, see what all the hype is about, and well I think all I did was confuse myself more. But I digress, reviewing is fun and I need to know how to make the story better, it's a win-win situation so feel free to hit the review button (don't worry the button is not harmed in this process, he likes it, it tickles)


	5. Vindicated

Let's face it, I'll never own them, I don't even have anything cool to trade for them. Oh but the wacky adventures they would get in if I did own them. So here's the next installment, the title is a song I heard a little while ago on the radio, you guys probably know it, it's by Dashboard Confessional, a pretty freakin' sweet band. Anyway the lyrics are confused and bounce around like Duo's mind, plus vindicated can mean not to blame, which is kind of the theme of the chapter.

These Boots Were Made for Racing

Vindicated

Quatre sat patiently at the oval table he and Trowa had chose, and watched out the window as people walked by on the sidewalk outside. He glanced across the room where Trowa was ordering their drinks from the coffee house.When Trowastarted walking toward himwith a couple of sandwiches that he bought at the counter, Quatre quickly looked away pretending he hadn't noticed the other boy. He didn't want to get caught staring at the young man, but it had been so long and theolder boylooked as wonderful as ever. Trowa sat down and handed the sandwich to Quatre who pretended like he stillhadn't noticed thetall boy returningto sit down. Trowa faintly smiled at the blonde's profile as thehe stared purposefully out the window.

"I got something for you to eat, I thought you might be hungry after today's race." It felt as though nothing had changed, they were still hiding from each other and Quatre was still blushing in his company. Trowa had always loved the boy's innocence, he was so reluctant to believe that anybody found him attractive and tried so hard to hide his own feelings. The green-eyed engineer was done hiding his feelings for the young man in front of him, he just hadn't found a way to tell his companion that yet.

"Thank you Trowa, you didn't have to." The blonde gave him one of his dazzling smiles before he took a bite of the sandwich that had been given to him. "It's good, thank you."

"The veggie with no mayo, I assumed you were still vegetarian." Trowa said after taking a bite out of his own lunch.

"I can't believe you remembered." Quatre laughed softly and took a quick glance at Trowa. It had been too long since he was able to enjoy these kinds of feelings. He never realized how much he had missed the jittery yet intoxicating effect the handsome older boy had on him.

"I have a good memory when it comes to things I'm interested in." Trowa tried to keep his eyes on his plate, but he couldn't stop himself from compulsively glancing up at the boy before him. Occasionally they would make eye contact and hurriedly look out the window or at their food. Quatre kept up pleasant conversation, asking Trowa what he had been doing lately and any other general question about life he could come up with.

"Here are your drinks boys. That's a strawberry ice tea for the cute blonde, and an iced mocha for Mr. Cool here." The young waitress put both their drinks on the table, first laying down napkins that had the shop's logo on them. The place had a new-age vibe, and the woman serving them had short spiked black hair with red streaks in it, she wore the black T-shirt that was her uniform and a pair of black stonewashed jeans. "If you need anything else just holler, my name's Alana."

"Thank you." Quatre said, politely as ever, when the waitress walked away, the heels of her boots clicking with each step. "I like this place, it seems very modern, very accepting of people of all walks of life. Duo would like it a lot too, I should bring him here one of these days, while we're still in town for the race." Quatre had a small smile on his lips, and his eyes were a little distant. He looked like he was lost in a thought.

"Duo, he and you are very close. Have you known him long?" Trowa did not look up when he asked this question, he was sure his eyes would betray his feelings.

"Oh yes, I've known Duo since I was twelve years old, we were best friends from the start. When I graduated almost a year early and went to college he and I always stayed in contact. Fortunately I had taken so many AP courses and college courses over my summers, that I already had a degree in physics after taking one fluid mechanics course. Then all I had to do was take a few engineering courses and in less than a year I had a Mechanical Engineering degree. It was shortly after that Duo called me saying he could use the best engineer out there, his words not mine, and so I figured 'what the heck?' and I joined my best friend's team." Qautre blushed and laughed nervously before biting into his sandwich.

"I knew you were intelligent, but I had no idea. So he's your best friend, nothing else, you guys just seemed so close, and he gave me a funny look whenyou hugged me." Trowa gazed out the window, his face a picture of calm indifference, but inside he was a nervous wreck.

"Not you too, everybody thinks we're a couple the first time they meet us, I don't understand why. And he gave you a funny look because he's actually very protective of me. Despite his devil-may-care attitude, there is nothing Duo cares about more than his friends. He was sizing you up, seeing if you were good enough to be left alone with me, he's actually physically thrown a guy across a room once because he tried to touch me when I said no. I believe Duo almost lost his license for that stunt too." Quatre smiled into his ice tea and took a sip, deciding that it still needed a little sugar he reached out for a new packet, on it's way though, his hand encountered an obstacle. Quatre looked down to find Trowa's hand had intercepted him, the crazy-haired young man's long fingers intertwined with his own. The blonde looked up into forest green eyes, Trowa had a faint but beautiful smile on his lips and his eyes had softened.

"If you tell me stop, I will." He whispered as he leaned across the table, pausing a couple inches from Quatre's face.

"Oh Trowa, I've been waiting for this, I...I want this." Quatre closed his aquamarine eyes, he could feel Trowa's breath against his lips, the smell of the sweet coffee drink was faint. Trowa placed his free hand on the back of Quatre's head, burying it in that soft blonde hair, and pulled him closer. Their lips met and Qautre had never felt anything so amazing, Trowa's lips were velvet soft but so firm. He opened his mouth slightly and Trowa sucked lightly on his bottom lip. Quatre let the tip of his tongue dart out and swipe at Trowa causing the other boy to stop in his ministrations to run along Quatre's tongue with his own in a teasing way. After a while Quatre pulled away to breathe, he was panting by this time but couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened. He kept playing the sensations over and over in his head.

"That was amazing," Qautre said with his fingertips pressed to his lips. He was blushing faintly, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Trowa's.

"I would have to agree." Trowa said with a smirk, he still hadn't let go of Quatre's hand. "I'm glad I wasn't too late. I know it took me a while, I was hoping you hadn't found someone else." Trowa stroked the blonde's hand with his thumb.

"I could never, besides who would I date, Duo?" Quatre laughed, he felt so happy, like a giant weight had been lifted off him.

"Well I had to make sure, I wasn't about to go and kiss a taken man." They got up and headed over to the counter to pay for the drinks, both were ready to head back to the hotel and talk, it was getting late anyway and they needed to get ready for the club.

"Speaking of Duo, I hope he hasn't caused too much trouble, at the very least I hope he hasn't drove Heero to murder." Trowa paid for their lunches after much protesting from Quatre, and they stepped out of the shop. Trowa paused on the sidewalk and looked at Quatre out of the corner of his eye. Then without another thought, he took Quatre's hand into his own and they walked to the car.

Back at the hotel Duo had put on a pair of sweats and a tank top and currently sat cross-legged in one of the large white hotel couch chairs. His dampbraid trailed over the side of the chair's arm, and a small puddle wasstartin toformfrom the water drippingoff the tip.

"So seriously, how the hell did you get in here?" Duo asked as he stared at the man he hadn't seen in almost a year. The young man looked as severe as ever with his jet-black ponytail and near raven eyes. He had been one of Duo's closest friends in childhood. The braided boy had always been the only one who could approach the child and not wind up sobbing. The other boy's parents had lived down the street from where Duo grew up, and every day he waited for their playtime together. As they got older they became known by the whole neighborhood as the odd couple. Duo was a ball of energy that was disorganized, loud, and rambunctious. The serious boy, Wufei, had been raised in a strict traditional household. He was extremely tidy, spoke only when necessary, and in general contained a lot of self-control. Actually, despite appearances, the two were very alike in that respect. Since he was two years old Wufei had been in love with a girl named Meiran, thoughthey acted like they hated each other. It was one of those relationships where the boy pushing the girl into the mud meant that he had a crush on her. Their parents would always get them together on the weekends for play dates. Sometimes Duo would go to, he really liked Meiran, as they got older and the three of them spent more time together Duo knew that those two were perfect for each other. It was his favorite joke with Wufei for nearly ten years, because Wufei would passionately deny his feelings to the point of threatening Duo's life.

When they entered middle school Wufei finally admitted to Meiran how much he liked her, and her response was to punch him in the gut and tell him he took too long, but ever since that day they were an amazing couple, especially when they thought no one was looking. Another great thing that happened when they entered middle school was they met Quatre, which was good because Duo was having a little trouble adjusting to Wufei and Meiran acting like a couple. When Quatre came along, all of Duo's growing loneliness and jealousy was swept clean. The four of them would always hang out with each other,in and out of school, but there was a definite shift, Duo would always sit next to Qautre at lunch and Wufei next to Meiran. On weekends Duo would call Quatre to see what he wanted to do, then they would invite the couple along.

When high school came along, they were all still the best of friends, but this is when Duo and Quatre started getting mistaken for a couple a lot. They were all outcasts but the two boys were especially picked on, this however, only made them closer. It wasn't until junior and senioryear that they started to really drift apart, Quatre graduated early, Duo was starting to try to get into the races, Wufei and Meiran finished out school and started the same college. Duo hadcontinued to talk to Quatre at his college, he would even go down to the campus and visit him every once in a while, but he had lost touch with Wufei.

"I told the guys downstairs I was part of your team. It's good to see you again, I'm glad you finally got what you wanted." Wufei's stern expression didn't hold Duo back, he knew the man in front of him better than the guy knew himself, and he could see the smile in his eyes.

"I've missed you Wufei, why did we ever loose touch?"The braided manwas flashing huge grins at his old best friend. Duo kicked at the towel he had dropped in front of his chair just to give himself something to do.

"Because I could only handle one nagging woman in my life." Wufei shot at him with a smirk.

"Watch it Wufei, you're walking on this ice with comments like that. Meiran would kill you if she heard you." Duo laughed at his joke and Wufei chuckled too. He really had missed the longhaired man too. He hadn't meant to loose touch, but when Duo left to join the track, things with Meiran had gotten really serious, and he was applying to colleges, it was a very stressful time.

"Maxwell, you haven't changed a bit, I 'm glad. I also have a favor to ask you." Duo quirked his eyebrow at this, Wufei was a man of honor and pride, boy was he proud, he asked for help from no one. Duo remembered a time when the boy was six and got stuck in the big tree in the park on their corner. He was there for nearly an hour refusing all help Duo offered him until his parents got the fire department out there and he had no choice but to take their help.

"Well then Fei, this must be pretty serious if you're willing to ask for help from someone as lowly as me." Duo emphasized the use of one of his many nicknames for the young man. He theatrically waved his hands about and drawled his sentence to exaggerate the fact that boy had never asked for his help.

"I wouldn't ask anyone else for this favor. Duo, Meiran's been hinting that she wants me to propose, and I just wanted to ask you if you would be my best man when we do finally go through with it." Duo was shocked that Wufei had used his first name, ithad to be the first time since they were four. Wufei stared intently at the braided boy and for a moment Duo wondered if Wufei thought he would say no. 'Maybe he thinks I'm mad or something because he never called, but hell I didn't pick up the phone either, and I could never be mad at Fei-babe.'

"You sure you want to let me do that, you know I get to make a speech right?" Duo laughed for a minute, but then looked very seriously at his friend. "Of course I will Wufei. I would be honored, you two are my favorite couple."

"Alright, then as my best man you've got to help me." Duo was definitely confused by this statement.

"Geez Wuffers you guys have been engaged since you were two, you don't need my help." Duo was having a good time with his old buddy. They had instantly fallen back into the routing of Duo's barbs, and Wufei's feathers getting ruffled.

"We have not! That was a joke our parents made that we've never lived down. "Will you help me?" The guy could be begging for a favor and he still sounded like he was putout by you, like he was doing you a favor by asking for your help. It was a damn good thing Wufei went into law, this was a talent that Duo had always respected once he got used to it and knew Wufei didn't mean it like that at all.

"What pretend to be your lover to get her off your back?" It had been so long since Duo had someone who reacted so much to his teasing, this was practically the basis of their entire friendship. Then again Heero had been so much fun to tease, what the hell was he thinking, he barely knew Heero. Shit why couldn't he keep that guy off his mind. Despite that interruption in his thoughts,Duofound himselfeasily sinking back into old habits, andwas feeling younger than he had in a long time.

"No Maxwell, help me ask her to marry me, I don't know how." Duo laughed for a minute straight, that was totally unexpected.

" Geez Wuffles you just go get a ring, get down on one knee and ask her." Duo was still fighting off laughter, and the look on Wufei's face when he said this just put him over the edge into another fit.

"I'm well aware of the tradition, Maxwell. I was thinking something a little less overdone, Meiran isn't easily satisfied." And Duo's laughing only increased ten fold.

"Hah, I'm sure she ain't." Wufeisputtered at the innuendo.

"Shut up Maxwell, that's not what I meant."

"Oh really, then you guys haven't . . ."

"Maxwell Shut up and help me." Wufei was glaring by now, but Duo knew that the boy was having a good time, he could see it. He was the only one who could always tell when Wufei was joking around.

"Seriously Fei, she loves you, she doesn't care how you do it, just do what's natural and comfortable." At seeing the dissatisfied look on Wufei's face, he sighed. "Alright, we'll come up with something super cool, spectacular,and romantic."

"Thanks Duo." Wufei faintly smiled at his best man, and Duo returned a huge grin. He jumped out of his chair and grabbed his hotel key ring, taking the key off of it as walked over to kneel in front of Wufei.

"Maxwell, what are you doing?" Wufei squirmed in his chair, and looked questioningly down at the crazy braided man in front of him.

"I still say the classics should be cherished, observe." He continued to kneel and took Wufei's hand and faked kissing it in a very animated way. Wufei tried to pull his hand back, but Duo was busy putting the key ring on it.

"Wufei, my love, my life, my inspiration. My raven haired beauty." Duo cooed theatrically.

"Raven haired beauty?" Wufei said sardonically with the raise of his eyebrow.

"Don't ruin the mood Wuffers. Now how about I give my blushing bride a kiss." Duo laughed and came at Wufei with his lips puckered, pretending to try and kiss him. Wufei struggled, pushing against Duo's chest as Duo pushed his body forward making obnoxious kissing noises. Duo made a final lunge and unfortunately caused the chair to tip over and the two to tumble out of it. Duo landed on top and was cracking up, even Wufei couldn't refrain from laughing.

"Aww Fei-cakes, I didn't know you cared." And Duo continued to fake kiss Wufei about a foot away from his face until he heard a faint gasp somewhere behind him.

He leaned up further and glanced around behind where he saw Heero standing in the doorway. Duo stared at the young man and noticed a pink slip of paper in his hand. 'He came to give me the papers for his car, he would seriously give me his car? Man I thought Wufei had honor.'

"I...just came to give you these. I... I'm sorry I interrupted." Heero's dark monotone ripped through Duo like a knife. Sure the guy wasn't all that expressive normally, but in the car he had joked and stuff. Heero dropped the papers and turned abruptly, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Wufei asked still lying under his best man. Duo was confused, what the hell had just happened. He looked at the door, then down at Wufei, then at himself, then back to the door, back to his position. He could think of only one word to described what just dawned on him.

"Shit."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing. For cHixOr Neko, tada here is Wufei, thanks for all your reviews. If anyone has a question, or a comment, please go ahead and review.uncomfortable pause 'cough'Soooo . . . anyone know any good jokes? No? How about the one about the woman formerly known as Robert?Scared to find out? Aww your no fun.Ok ok, I'll go. See you next chapter!


	6. Crazy for this Boy

Hello again, by now I'm sure you're well aware that I don't own the boys, my life would not be this pathetic if I did. So anyway, the title for this chapter is an old song from somewhere in the 90s. It's by Evelyn and Jordan or something like that, but I slightly modified it, so uhm don't sue me for that either. The song has sort of become my anthem for Heero's point of view if you want to check out the rest of the lyrics, it's a sweet little song.

These Boots Were Made for Racing

Crazy for this _Boy_

"Is there something you want to tell me, Maxwell?" Wufei watched his friend bemusedly as he ran around like a chicken with his head cut off searching for some clothes to put on. Duo gave him a nasty look and threw his faded blue jeans in his face. Wufei caught them deftly and set them on the arm of the hotel chair that he had curled up into a comfortable position in.

"There's nothing going on Wufei, I just don't want the guy thinking I had lied to him or lead him on. Is that alright with you?" Duo said, trying to sound like he was joking with him, but it came across a little more defensive then he had intended. He yanked his black shirt over his head. It was see through black mesh with a red cross that traveled across his chest and down his abdomen. He threw two more pairs of jeans at Wufei, this time the Chinese man missed, and grabbed his watery black leather pants from the back of his closet.

"But there is a possibility of something between you?" Wufei commented while craning his neck to see his friend's face, in order to gauge Duo's reaction before he disappeared behind the bathroom door.

"I didn't say that Wufei, I just don't want him thinking we're a couple because that's a lie, you know I don't lie." He hollered from behind the door as he tugged his pants on. He yanked open the bathroom door and ran right over to his sock drawer, trying to find his black pair.

"Well he sure seemed to think that he had a chance, so you must have lead him on at some point." Wufei was pushing it, but he was tired of his friend being alone. Duo had never actually come out and told him why he refused to get involved with anyone, but Wufei had a few theories and he thought it was about time to leave the past in the past.

"I haven't done any such thing, there's nothing going on and there never will be." Duo jerked his left boot on and buckled up the clasps. He stared intently at his other boot as he loosened the buckles on it.

"Who are you trying to convince Maxwell, I think you want something to happen with this guy." Wufei looked smug when Duo faltered in fastening his bootstraps. The braided driver quickly stood up off the end of the bed where he had been sitting in a slight daze after he had finished with his shoes.

"Look Wuffers, I don't know what I want, but I can't take the chance of him getting hurt, emotionally or otherwise. So lets drop it for now." A distant shadow fleetingly passed across Duo's face, a dim solemnity taking the gleam out of his eye. "Hey Quatre and an old flame or something are going down to a club in like an hour, I'm going to meet them there, you want to come with?" It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but Wufei took it sensing it was time to let it go, for now.

"Qautre has an old flame, since when? Heh,Yeah I'll come. Is it a guys night out or can I run to my hotel and pick up Meiran?" Wufei picked up his jacket that he had tossed on Duo's bed when he walked in. Duo pulled on his red belt that had flat metal studs running along it, and grabbed a thick black leather wristband with the same flat spikes.

"What! WarriorChic is here, hell yeah you have to bring her Fei. I've missed that crazy little Chinese girl and her cunning mind." Duo also grabbed his own mid thigh leather jacket and swung it over his shoulder.

"Yeah I remember the practical jokes your combined powers were capable of, and I wouldn't use that nickname in front of her if I were you." Wufei followed Duo to his door, not even considering it rude that the braided young man was rushing out the door without saying anything first. That was just Duo's way, he treated you like you lived with him wherever he was. He expected you to come and go as you please, grab what you wanted from the kitchen, or change the channel to whatever. He wasn't rude or a bad host, he just thought that everyone should feel comfortable enough in his home to do what they wanted.

"Yeah those were great, especially the one where you were blonde for a week." Wufei grimaced at the memory of explaining his new do to all of his curious teachers. And all the creative nicknames the student body came up with for him, the most creative by his girlfriend and best friend.

"Oh and don't mention anything about the wedding to Meiran, I'm keeping it as a surprise." They made their way down the hallway and stopped just short of the turn to the elevator, they were still a little ways from Heero's room.

"Call Quatre to find out where we're going, I still have to call him myself, and I'll see you at the club. Tell Meiran that if she doesn't save a dance for me I'm going to take one with her boyfriend." Duo laughed and clapped Wufei on his back.

"Don't tell her that, she'll refuse justfor the sight the two of us would make." Wufei gave a slight smile and stepped toward the elevator.

"I'll see you in a bit man." Duo called out as he made his way down the hall to Heero's room.

"Hold on, I think this will complete your look." Wufei dug into his pocket and pulled out a half used eyeliner pencil and proceeded to grab Duo's chin. He quirked a questioning eyebrow at his life long friend.

"Don't give me that look. I'm practically a married man, you'd be damn surprised at what I have in these pockets and what I could do with it all." Wufei held Duo's faces still and shook his head lightly at the look on his friends face. "Just close you eyes."

"Wuffers, that was way more information than I ever needed to know. You keep your toys to yourself." Duo laughed and Wufei scolded him, telling him to keep still unless he wanted to look like a gothic clown.

"There I'm done, I will see you later tonight." Wufei headed back to the elevator and gave a short wave as the elevator doors slid shut.

Duo made his way down the hall looking like a condemned man on death row. What made him the most flustered was that he couldn't figure out why he was letting it bother him so much. So what if Heero thought he and Wufei were a couple? It's not like he wanted a chance with this guy, heck if he just let him believe that he was in a relationship that would actually make things easier. But he couldn't do that, that would be the same as lying and Duo Maxwell did not lie. So he had to tell Heero that he wasn't dating anyone, for no other reason than to clear his conscience of any lies. At least that's what he told himself. It had nothing to do with how attractive his rival was or how well they're opposing personalities seemed to complement each other in some weird way. He stopped in front of the dreaded door and raised his hand to knock, then dropped it, then raised it again and held it there. The butterflies in his stomach were going to tie a knot in it so tight it was going to rip in half. He tried to force himself to knock, he really did, but his arm just wouldn't obey the commands his brain was sending. Duo turned away from the door unable to sum up the courage to knock. He couldn't understand what his problem was, why was he so nervous? It wasn't as if he cared what Heero thought, hell all he wanted to do was race him, that's all. He stood there for a while, back turned to the door, for some reason his pep talk to himself wasn't exactly doing the trick.

"Come on Duo man, this is nothing. You're just getting him for the club, nothing important. You'll mention that Wufei and his wife will be there tonight and it will clear the air. Not that it really matters." He added quickly, his own mind betraying him. He was so absorbed in his argument with himself that he didn't hear the door behind him unlock and open.

"Duo." The boy whipped around at the sound of his name in that monotone voice. He stared with wide indigo eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. His mouth hung open, but the bottomless volcano of words that usually erupted, was gone. Heero looked fantastic, the fantasy at the beach was nothing compared to the real thing. The Japanese driver looked to die for in a pair of stonewashed faded jeans that hugged his hips and clung to that sexy, well-toned butt. He wore a tight black tank top that had washed out white on the shoulder blades, and on the front hem 'WING' was written in faded Old English. A black leather watch with a silver face and a pair of black dress shoes completed the ensemble. His dark hair and dark top accentuated his luminescent blue eyes. "Well, are you ready to go?"

"Right, to the club, yeah I'm ready." Heero nodded curtly and closed the door behind him, turning to lock it. "Oh and about earlier…"

"Yeah, sorry I walked in." He said it quickly, as if to get it over with. He looked so uncomfortable that Duo didn't know how to respond. He didn't even know how to act around his rival anymore, could he still make taunting jokes, could he mess around or would it be flirting, and then he'd be considered a tease or something.

"No that's not what I mean." Duo hated the thick tension in the air. Before this whole mess they had been having a really good time, like they were old friends just hanging out together.

"It doesn't matter. We should get going." This wasn't right; this didn't feel right at all. Duo knew he had to explain, but Heero wasn't even going to give him a chance. This was so unfair, and why the hell did he care anyway, damn it this was all so confusing.

"Huh, oh sure. I uh… brought back your papers man, I'm not really going to take your car." Heero turned back around sharply, and gave Duo a confused but stubborn look. Everything between them was so uncomfortable, so rigid, like they were scared of each other. Duo was scared of saying the wrong thing and upsetting Heero. Heero was scared of seeming like a jerk but he couldn't help his lack of response, he did after all just get shot down before he even knew if he had a chance. Damn hope, Heero hated hope.

"A deal's a deal." Heero responded somewhat sharply, but still lacking affect. Duo stretched out his hand farther again offering the papers to Heero. Even the way Heero stood spoke volumes of how all had changed between them. Before he had an almost fluid stance, like he could just shrug off anything that came at him, but now, he was ramrod straight and in attack mode.

"I'm seriously not going to take your car, come on, neither of us won let's just call it off." Heero stubbornly pushed the papers back. He was not going to have this guy feel sorry for him, he hated pity more than anything in this world. So he stood firm and refused when Duo pushed them at him once again.

"Look man, I'm being nice. Just take it, don't be so stubborn." Heero simply pushed him to the side and made his way to the elevator, trying his best to ignore the braided man jogging to catch up with him. Heero hit the elevator button and waited for the doors to release. When Duo caught up to him, the doors had finally slid open and Heero stepped in without even a second glance at his rival. Duo fidgeted, with his clothes, hair, anything, the friendly taunting atmosphere had been shattered. He couldn't even joke around with the guy anymore, and that was Duo's greatest defense mechanism. He felt naked without it, and it's damn uncomfortable to be naked in an elevator with someone.

"Stubborn is my middle name." Heero sort of joked, trying to act normal, but it felt forced. He stood as still as a statue in his corner of the elevator, while Duo kept giving him confused looks in his.

"Well you have met your match in that too, buddy. And I haven't lost an obstinate battle yet." Duo pushed himself off the elevator wall when the doors opened again to the lobby. He walked over to the front desk and leaned on it while the girl working there finished up explaining to a man that the strange woman he found in his room earlier that day was the cleaning lady. She hadn't expected him back for another hour and she was just making his bed, not trying to seduce him. When the poor girl had finally convinced the man that the hotel staff wasn't out to get him using the secret art of sex, she hung up and smiled at Duo apologizing for the wait.

"No problem, I worked in a restaurant once and every body that came in thought that I was hitting on them." The girl giggled and Duo flashed her a grin. To his left he heard a snort and turned to Heero who was arching an eyebrow at him that just asked 'Do you ever turn down the dial.' Duo just grinned and turned back to the hotel worker. "If a man named Wufei or girl named Meiran come in, you can trust them, they're with me."

"All right sir, I'll add them to your guest list." She smiled warmly and asked if there was anything else she could do for him. He declined and he and Heero took off for the front parking lot to get the car for the club.

"You should congratulate me." Duo spouted out as they made their way through the lobby toward the front entrance. It was said in that tone of a person trying to be casual but it's obvious that they've been thinking about what to say for a long time. Duo played it off a little better than most, after all everyone always told him he would have made a great actor if he hadn't been so obsessed with speed.

"Why's that?" Heero responded almost automatically, not sure where this was going, and not too happy about the possibilities. Thinking it had something to do with Duo and the guy in his room, he wasn't exactly pleased about congratulating the two. It probably had something to do with committing to steady relationship. 'Maybe he wasn't he wasn't even with this guy until that moment, great timing Heero.' His mind sarcastically taunted him.

"I'm a best man." Well that wasn't what Heero expected.

"For what?" He asked half numb by the realization of what that meant. When he did realize what he had asked, he mentally slapped himself for being so stupid.

"A wedding, you dumb ass. Well, I mean naturally I'm the best man for everything, but what else would I be talking about." Duo laughed in a soft 'you're a moron' way, and even though it should have been insulting, Heero found it endearing.

"Wedding." Heero stated skeptically. He was really having a hard time grasping this conversation. His mind was reeling with questions and possibilities. 'Why is he telling me this? What does this mean?'

"Yeah Wufei, that guy in my room, finally got up the nerve to ask his girl." Duo was really trying to stay calm through all this, but he felt so obvious and stupid. He knew he sounded like he giving Heero an open invitation, and that was bad because he was leading the guy on. Nothing could ever happen between them and he was giving the guy false hope. He felt like such a jerk, but this was less of a lie than he and Wufei being bedmates, that was just hysterically insane.

"That guy was your friend." He said disbelievingly.It was slight, but Duo caught the pause before the word friend.

"Of course he was, you don't just walk up and ask random people to be the best man in your wedding. Geez, your not too familiar with this tradition are you. What did you think he was?" At least the casual feeling of old friends had almost been restored between them, Duo felt much more comfortable now. Heero to seemed to be slipping into what seemed to be their routine, even if they had only known each other for a few hours.

"Nothing. Uhm… congratulations then." All this was said with perfect calm and very little affect but the relief, or at least the lack of tension, could be felt in the energy of the air. It both excited and scared Duo. Actually it scared him because he was excited, but he was glad that the comfortable atmosphere had been returned.

"So let's get going to this club already, we're going to be late." Duo flagged down a valet and asked for the Mustang. "I'd tell you to congratulate Wufei too when we get there, but his wife doesn't know yet."

"They're going to be there?" Heero was unsure if he wanted to meet this Wufei face to face. It was true that the guy and Duo weren't a couple, but they had still been very close and that managed to raise a little jealousy in Heero.

"Yep, but sorry, you'll just have to wait until the wedding to give your congrats." Duo commented without even thinking, like usual. He was definitely back to his old self.

"Why would I got to his wedding, I don't know him." Duo looked a little surprised, he wasn't sure what had come over himself, why would he say something like that. Of course Heero wouldn't be at the wedding, they had only known each other less than a day, hell after this race there was no guarantee that they would meet again. They would probably meet at the last race to battle for the cup, but that would probably be it. His heart sunk in his chest a little, and he chastised himself for caring. 'Damn you Duo, do not get involved, if you like this guy then keep him safe by backing off.'

"Oh yeah sorry, it's just, well you feel like somebody I've known forever." 'Heero you better get away from me, 'cause I don't know I can stay away from you.'

"I know what you mean." There was a contemplative silence. Heero looked very introspective and Duo noticed the slightest curving up of Heero's lips. Duo had to break this moment, he was getting to close, he already knew he would never be able to shake that image of Heero out of his memory.

"Oh Shit, I forgot to call Qand ask where we're going. I'll be right back, maybe the front desk will let me use the phone." Duo dug into his pocket for his wallet to find Qautre's phone number. Heero was shaken out of his reverie by the sound of Duo's voice, it was quickly becoming his favorite sound.

"Don't worry about it, I called Trowa earlier and asked him. The place is called Hearts and Clubs." Duo was entertained with the play on words. He liked it when things had clever names, he gota little ecxited to find out what this place would be like on the inside.

"Such a responsible man, what would I ever do without you?" Duo dramatically clung to Heero's arm, and Heero simply shook his head.

"I suppose you'd actually win all your races." Heero look smugly at the longhaired race driver, who in return made a face at him.

"Well how about I repay you for your rsponsibility." Duo wiggled his eyebrows at his companion.

"How?" Heero asked in whispery almst seductive tone. Damn things were definatley getting back to normal, and Duo was just as confused by it all as he was before. All he knew was that he liked being confused like this much better than the tense confusion after their misunderstanding.

"How about I give you a chance to win your car back." Seeing as how Duo wasn't going to let this car thing drop anytime soon, Heero went along with it.

"Hn. What did you have in mind?" He stated briskly, but it was in a much more friendly manner than earlier. And his eyes did show a little curiosity. 'Oh God Duo, stop looking at his eyes.' Duo shook himself mentally and concentrated on the evil plan that was forming in his mind.

"I'll give you three tasks to perform tonight at the club, and if you do them all to my approval I'll give up the Mustang." He waved the ownership papers in front of Heero's face.

"You damn baka." He chuckled very slightly as he batted the papers away.

"I'm going to ignore that since I don't know what that means." Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero. Yep, he was definitely back to his old self now.

"So what is this, a game of dare?" Heero asked unafraid. 'Silly boy.' Duo thought 'I suppose it's unfair to do this to him since he doesn't even know what he's up against. Oh well, more fun for me.'

"Yeah, I'll dare you to do three things, and I have to pass them for it to count. You think you can handle that?" Duo taunted. 'Oh this was going to be good.'

"Sounds like cake, what's the catch?" 'Hook, line and sinker.'

"Are you kidding, you have to do what I tell you, that's a big enough of a catch." That was Duo's attempt at a warning, to ease his conscience for what he was going to do to the kid.

"Doesn't sound that hard." 'Poor kid, never had a chance. I wonder if this one will make the first page of the newspaper like the last one. Still feel bad aboutWufei's hair.'

"You don't know me very well." Duo grinned evilly. He was in his element now, everyone duck and cover. "So you accept?"

"Yeah sounds good." Heero finalized the challenge by extending his hand. Duo took it firmly with the most devilish grin on his face Heero had ever seen. 'Oh shit. This could only be bad, maybe I should write my will out or something.' Heero thought when he saw the almost demonic gleam in Duo's eyes, it was then that he realized he had no idea what color they were.

The valet pulled the car around and, remembering that Heero had given him the keys, he tossed them to the young Asian man. Heero got in the car, once again in the driver's seat for some reason, but Duo wasn't complaining. He took off out of the parking lot and into the city streets. A gust of wind blew his bangs into his eyes and he brushed them away, looking toward Duo to see where the cool breeze had come from. The longhaired enigma had rolled down his window again, but this time he didn't stick his head out the window, instead he had leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes in a serene picture. The last finger-like rays of the setting sun reached out and brushed against Duo's right cheek. For a moment Heero was reminded of an old song when Duo began to talk loudly about this whole Qautre and Trowa 'thing.' The words played softly in his head, with a few minor changes, while he listened to Duo's theories about the engineers' secret relationship. 'He rolls the window down, and he talks over the sound, of the cars that pass us by, and I don't know why but he's changed my mind.'

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Sorry for the wait for this chapter, life gets a little hectic around the holidays. Although I can't imagine there's anybody out there just chomping at the bit for the next chapter of this thing but oh well, I felt I should still apologize. I only got one request but the joke really is a funny one, if you're not a girl or your like me and can still laugh at it because you just appreciate the humor in it. Please don't flame me with feminist stuff, believe I'm one of the biggest FemNazis in the world, I'm just able to keep my sense of humor too. Anyway, the joke was told to me by my precal teacher, he knows all the dirtiest, most politically incorrect jokes in the world. So it goes my precal teacher was alking down the street when a woman bumped into him. They bothapologized and she looked at him for a second before she said Steve, Steve Holson (not his real name, but his real name is hillarious). He replies "Yeas that's me. Do I know you?" She says yes that they went to highschool together. "I used to be Robert Johnson, I'm Roberta now." Holson stares at her and begins to see the resemblance. "Oh wow, you know I hate to be rude but I have to ask. Did it hurt when they cut it off?" She smiled at him and assured him he wasn't being rude. "No that part didn't hurt at all, but itsure did when they took out half my brain." Ha ha? oh well I htought it was pretty funny. See ya next chapter and review, I demand, I mean ask politely that you do.


	7. Hearts and Clubs

Alright I have made you guys wait long enough for this, so I am not going to babble on. Same old stuff, don't sue. I use a lot of songs in this chapter, please don't sue for that I earn no money from using them. This chapter is extra long, I hope you all like it. I love all my reviewers so I am sorry to keep you waiting, holidays and stuff are super hectic and I had to work on it whenever I could find a spare moment. Oh dang I'm babbling, I'll just shut up now and let you read.

Hearts and Clubs

Chapter 7

The ride to the club was amiable, with Duo switching seamlessly from topic to topic and still managing to say nothing personal about himself. Heero did however have a very clear picture now of how Duo and his friends spent their free time in earlier days, and he had to admit it would have been great to have known them all back then. He heard about the many practical jokes, the whole story of Wufei and Meiran, and all about Qautre being a child genius. He thought his adolescence would have been a thousand times better if he had known them back then. Maybe his whole life would be different. He would probably still be in drag racing since he would most definitely be best friends with Duo and they would have entered together. After every time one of them won a race there would be a big party at Duo's house and all their friends would be there. They would have gotten Wufei drunk and played a practical joke on him, maybe one that went down would be talked about for decades to come at their high school. Then he and Duo would have gotten smashed themselves, and Heero would have to spend the night because he passed out on the couch. At some point when all the guests had left, Duo would bring down a blanket and drape it over Heero's unconscious body. The sudden warmth would bring Heero back to the waking world, he would look sleepily at his best friend kneeling beside him, and in his drunken quasi-asleep state he would lean forward and gently brush his lips to the longhaired boy's. Duo would return the kiss tentatively, and soon it would deepen into something more desperate, more passionate. Duo's tongue would dart out and swipe across his bottom lip. In response Heero would open his mouth slightly and allow Duo to plunge in and tangle with his own tongue. Heero's hand would reach out and burry itself in the soft braided hair he found resting on Duo's neck. Tongues would battle for control and bodies would gravitate toward each other. It would be the most amazing experience of his young life, and from that point on they would no longer be just best friends, but so much more.

"Hey man we're almost there. You take a left at this next light, don't you?" Heero's head snapped around to Duo then back to the road, a light tinge of pink blushing across his cheeks when he thought about the daydream he had just been having. He recovered quickly however and looked perfectly calm when Duo glanced at him in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, and the place will be on our right." Heero's nasally accent came out cool and collected like his stony face, his insides however were still squirming with the image of a kiss with longhaired driver. Duo's face turned toward his window, it was dark outside now, the lights of the fantastic structures coming to life and casting a beautifully eerie neon glow on the streets of the city. His face lit up when he saw the most incredible two-story building come into view on his right. It was a midnight blue and black oval warehouse with two large pillars connecting to a wide terrace that encircled the entire club. The front of this balcony had a tall arching rail that swooped down in intricate designs and followed the terrace all the way around the building. On the walls on either side of the pillars there were enormous full-scale portraits, painted in amazing detail and lit by spotlights. Next to the right pillar was a young woman holding a cocktail in one hand and a sequent hand purse hooked around the other. She was dressed in a long red silk gown that had slit up one side revealing an expanse of pale thin leg and one red high heel with straps. The dress had a pattern of small beaded hearts all over it. Her hair was all pulled up in curls and she was wearing a tiara that had a diamond-encrusted heart in the center. She was obviously supposed to be the Queen of Hearts, and the portrait on the other was her partner of another suit, the King of Clubs. He was wearing the classic coat and tails and carrying what looked like whiskey on the rocks. He leaned casually on his cane, which looked suspiciously like a septor. He loosely held his drink, and appeared to be winking at the people walking into the club. His tie had a silver four-leaf clover in its center and his vest too had the silver clovers as a pattern.

"I think we're here, but that's just a guess." Duo laughed when Heero glanced to the right and arched one eyebrow at the sight of the club building. He pulled into the right hand lane and turned into the parking lot, the lights of the club illuminating his face as he leaned forward to keep the top of the building in view.

"We're supposed to meet the guys in the parking lot. Wufei will come later, he had to go get Meiran." Duo bounced out of the car the moment it had stopped, Heero once again handed the keys over to a valet and went to stand next to Duo. The two stood for a moment and just stared at the building they were supposed to enter after they met Qautre and Trowa in the parking lot. They didn't even see the other boys' approach they were so busy gawking at the fantastic nightclub.

"They're never going to let us in with the dumb looks on your faces. Don't seem so easily impressed." Duo whipped around at the sound of the barely familiar stoic voice coming from behind him, Trowa and Qautre had stepped out from behind one of the large pillars.

"Har, har. Qautre how do you intend to get us into a place like this. I mean when you said we were going to a night club, I have to admit this wasn't exactly what I had pictured." Duo tried to smile carelessly, but it was obvious he was uncomfortable with the ritziness of the place. "I was thinking more a long the lines of a whole in the wall that wouldn't check our age." Duo came from a poor background and never felt comfortable in the presence of the rich. The only one who had been able to overcome that was Qautre. You could also tell by the way he tugged at his shirt, that he felt inappropriately dressed.

"Duo don't worry about it, my uncles best friend runs this place." Qautre said shyly, he was always ashamed when he told Duo about all these perks his life had, but truth be told Qautre would have preferred to live like Duo, and he respected the braided boy's strength more than the boy would ever know. Duo continued to tug at his outfit and tried to glance around, without being to obvious, and see what everyone else was wearing.

"Duo will you stop fidgeting, you look fine. You'll see, I really think you're going to like this place." Duo immediately stopped as though he just realized what he was doing, Heero hadn't taken his eyes off the braided mechanic during this entire conversation. Their eyes met in a nervous glance, but Duo embarrassedly looked quickly away. Then he finally noticed what Qautre and Trowa were wearing, and he felt a little relieved. Qautre was wearing a nice form fitting light blue dress shirt with comfortable looking faded black jeans, and Trowa had on a forest green long sleeved button down shirt with skin tight charcoal gray slacks.

"Qautre, is the entire world owned by your family or someone they know? I swear I could end up in the middle of the arctic and your second cousin twice removed would own an igloo hotel or something." Duo smiled earnestly, he was starting to relax and the world seemed funny again. Qautre giggled softly and was able to relax too when he saw Duo was more comfortable.

"Actually I believe one of my great uncles is currently doing an expedition in the ice caverns of the arctic, he's retired and loves doing extreme things." Duo cracked up at this, he loved poking jokes at Qautre's family, and Qautre loved them too. In the beginning it felt odd to have someone make fun of his relatives, because no one else dared. But he soon realized as he got to know Duo better that the boy's way of coping with life and the things that made him uncomfortable, was by making jokes. The blonde fell in love with the odd brand of joking that his new friend seemed to posses in excess. It was actually that personality feature that had caused him to approach the eccentric longhaired high schooler.

"So Wufei called me, and I'm so glad he and Meiran can come. He said he would meet us inside, which means…" Qautre had a small evil smirk, that was worthy of Duo himself, playing gently across his lips. Both Trowa and Heero had no clue what was going on and they looked at each other with mimicking arched eyebrows.

A grimace passed across Duo's face and he positioned himself into something that resembled a fighting stance, Qautre too looked like he was bracing himself for impact. They were staring hard at each other as though trying to size the other up. They looked like they were waiting for a sign to throw the first punch. They stayed just like that for a long time, so long that Heero checked his watch just out of curiosity. Finally Qautre was the first to move, he pulled his fist back and quickly shot it up into the air above his head while he let out a whooping yell. Heero was very confused, he didn't remember seeing anything happen, but it must have because Duo looked as though he had just lost a bet or a race. His shoulders sagged in defeat and he punched down at the air, though with much more malice then Qautre's jubilant strike at the sky. Heero's gaze traveled back to Qautre who was at the moment doing a little jig and singing something that sounded like 'you blinked first.' He also heard Duo mutter a curse under his breath and he wondered what the hell was going on here exactly.

"Duo what just happened?" Heero glanced confusingly between the longhaired enigma and his equally strange blonde friend. Duo merely shrugged in response and pointed to Qautre, who took that as a sign to gloat more.

"He blinked first, he lost. I tell you what though Duo I'll buy your first one." With that Qautre let out a maniacal laughter, and Heero could tell that Trowa had never heard the young blonde do that before.

"Qautre, could you explain what's going on, what are you buying Duo?" Trowa asked the young blonde standing next to him. He looked concerned for his shorter companion, who was still looking haughtily at Duo and chuckling occasionally.

"It's a tradition between the three of us, whenever one is going to be late the other two have a contest to see who has to be the designated drinker." Duo finally spoke up, but in a dejected tone of voice, in the background Qautre had started chuckling again.

"That means that since he lost the competition, he's it and has to have a drink every three minutes until Wufei arrives." Qautre would have elaborated but he was lost in another fit of giggles, and Duo glared at him.

"It's not normally this much of a big deal, but Qautre's never won against me before. I can't believe this little punk beat me." Duo fainted punching Qautre's arm, but he laughed good-naturedly. "Thank goodness Fei's gonna be here in just a few."

"Unless Meiran holds him up." Qautre cackled.

"Well, this ought to be an interesting night, shall we go in now?" Trowa's ever calm voice asked as he shook his head faintly at the other driving team's antics.

"Ah Trowa, and I was going to try and stall us a little." Duo laughed and turned to follow the group into the club, Heero walking right next to him.

"Your friends are almost as interesting as you." Duo looked over at Heero, who was smiling faintly, and he couldn't help it, he blushed very slightly.

"You calling me a weirdo Yuy?" Duo flashed him a crooked grin.

"Yes, yes I am." Heero was laughing when they reached the bouncer. It was a very attractive laugh, and though it didn't last long, Duo definitely thought he should do it more often. The bouncer was a large man he had broad shoulders and was at least six foot three. He was tan skinned and had dark brown hair that stuck straight up off his head and curled out from his chin. Duo expected him to card them all and then throw them onto the streets, but instead he smiled politely and shook Qautre's hand before he opened the door to the club. Duo heard Qautre say 'thank you Rashid' before he stepped into the club. Duo was going to say something, but the second he looked around him he was speechless.

It was like taking a step back in time, in here the forties had never passed. Or, at least, it like a dream you would have after staying up all night watching movies from that era on a classic film channel. There were multiple uneven levels on which sat round tables with small dim lamps set up in the center next to a thin vase containing a single rose. The bar was a raised oval set in the center of the club where six bar tenders on either side of a panel in the center o the oval, were tossing glasses and bottles of liquor, mixing drinks in fantastic ways. The club was painted in midnight blue and draped in maroon tapestries, and the tables were covered in deep red cloths. To the right of the bar was a dance floor made of square glass-looking tiles, underneath it was many different colored lights that flashed in turn making the entire dance floor change color with them. To the left was a large group of tables also on the platforms of different heights in the middle of which was a large, wide, dark stairway that led to the uppermost level where larger tables were set up for parties and such, and another bar ran along the back wall. Straight ahead of them was a large wooden stage painted black with large red curtains, it was raised and the bottom was rimmed with aluminum striped with neon lights. On top of the stage instruments for a band were set up on chairs and a piano was to the left of the small group of chairs. Directly in front of the stage was a D.J. booth that was being run by a man in an expensive tuxedo. All employees seemed to be wearing tuxes and long sequent gowns straight from the 1940s but the patrons were dressed like they had just gotten out of a rave, Duo definitely fit right in. They stood in the entrance and simply surveyed all their surroundings there were so many details everywhere. There were incredible light fixtures everywhere, lights that draped the walls, that stuck straight out of them, poles that reached the ceiling that were lit from the inside, and an enormous crystal chandelier with a three foot radius that hung above the oval bar and it's twin above the stage. The paint on the walls wasn't a single color it was actually finely detailed with intricate patterns painted in darker tones, and sparkled when light touched it.

The D.J. in front of the stage glanced up after changing the song and noticed them standing at the entrance, he winked at Qautre and grabbed the microphone in front of him.

"Of all the clubs in all the cities in all the world, you had to walk into mine. Welcome to Hearts and Clubs." And he winked one more time when he replaced his microphone. Qautre gave a small wave to him and began weaving his way through the crowd toward the stage, the other three followed him still gawking at the amazing things they came across, like how the dance floor changed and now each square switched to a different color when they were stepped on. They also started to notice all the artwork that covered the walls, it was apparently a collection from the local artists and it wasn't just paintings, there were abstract sculptures and collages of the music greats throughout history. Duo was the only one who danced his way across the floor, he did however get Heero to move a little bit with him when he bumped his hip into the boy in time with a disco song that started playing.

They reached the D.J. table and the man choosing the songs, which seemed to span all music throughout the centuries. He reached over the equipment and pulled Qautre into a light embrace slapping him on the back a couple times. When Qautre stepped back, Duo was finally able to get a good look at the man. He was short and tan, he had a thin black mustache that hung down past his bottom jaw. The jet-black hair on top of his head was slicked back and pulled into a small ponytail, which reminded Duo of Wufei's. His pinstriped suit was a dark charcoal gray that looked black in the dim lighting of the club. His cufflinks were large diamonds, and there was another diamond in the middle of his smoky tie. His eyes were small black beads that shone with jubilance, there were heavy crows feet at the corner of his eyes and wrinkles around his mouth from smiling so much. Duo instantly liked the guy, he reminded him of his old friend at the track, Howard. Well the constantly smiling did anyway, but this guy was way too polite for Howard.

"Ah, Qautre my dearest little friend, I had no idea you were in town. You should have told me, I would have made special arrangements." By the looks of this guy, Duo didn't doubt that if Qautre had mentioned they would be passing through, the two of them would be in the best suite in the best hotel of the city, in the finest restaurants every night, and wouldn't have to pay for a thing. "And you brought friends! Well come now, introduce me."

"Yes of course, how rude of me. This is Trowa, my old friend from college who I hadn't seen in a long time. We just met again today." Qautre smiled and blushed slightly, though Duo could barely see it in the dim lights. The D. J. must have been more used to the dark because he certainly picked up on it.

"An old college _friend_, eh? Perhaps there is something more now though?" The old man winked and Qautre's blush deepened ten fold, which in Duo's mind confirmed his suspicions. Qautre however did not deny nor confirm the D.J.'s accusations, he simply plowed on with the introductions.

"And this is Heero, he is Trowa's friend and a race car driver like Duo." Heero nodded politely to the man and he smiled in return."

"Qautre always has had very attractive friends, I think this one may be one of the most exotic looking of them though." Heero had no idea how to respond to that, he simply stood there and looked rather uncomfortable, the man's smile only widened. Duo was afraid of what he would say to him when Qautre introduced them.

"And this of course is Duo, but you already knew that." Duo looked shocked he hadn't ever met this man before, yet Qautre was under the impression that they new each other. He looked confusedly at the old man behind the table and saw recognition in those sparkly black eyes.

"Yes of course. I have seen many pictures of you and heard many more stories. I have to say you're a kid after my own heart, but much more clever than I was at your age." The old man continued to look Duo up and down. "I must admit that your pictures don't do you justice, you are a masterpiece in real life." Duo blushed as red as a tomato and tried to say 'thank you' but nothing came out except a choked cough garbled with a strangled whimper. He glanced over at Qautre who was nodding in agreement and glared at the blonde. Then his eyes uncontrollably flashed to Heero who seemed to be smiling at him and there was something in those deep blue eyes that made Duo even more nervous but he couldn't help thinking that he liked the butterflies Heero gave him.

"Well anyway, I have been very rude and have not introduced myself, because even though I have heard so much about the young Maxwell boy that I could write a book, I am certain he has never heard of me." The man winked again, and laughed at the expression on Duo's face, which clearly showed that he was both shocked by this information and embarrassed. "I am Dr. H. I used to be a private professor and I taught Qautre through much of his youth. People around here just call me H though, the Dr. is intimidating and people seem much more tense around me, which I hate. You all can call me that, though I am sure that old habits die hard and Qautre will not be able to stop saying my title." Qautre laughed and smiled at the old man affectionately. "My partner and designer of this club, Mr. Trieze Kushrenada, has gone away on a business trip with his…_friend_, Mr. Zechs Marquis. I must introduce you to him sometime Qautre he has the most interesting views. I think a conversation between the two of you would be very interesting." The man smiled at Qautre like a teacher proud of his best pupil.

"I think Duo has some of the most interesting and realistic views, perhaps we should all get together sometime. Professor it has been very good talking to you, I will be back later tonight for a longer chat but I owe my friend here his first drink of the night, though I guarantee it will not be his last." Qautre laughed and looked proud, like he had just achieved a lifetime goal.

"So you finally won one of your little competitions against Duo" He chuckled warmly. "Just give this to the bar tender and you wont pay for a thing tonight." The old man had never stopped smiling he held out his hand and Qautre took what had been offered to him. Duo had caught a glimpse of it before Qautre had tucked it into his pocket, it was a red rose and its stem curved at the bottom to form three letters, VIP. Duo had never been considered a VIP in his entire life, and he was slightly overwhelmed by it all.

"Thank you professor, I will see you later tonight. I actually have a small request of you that I think you will enjoy." There was maniacal gleam to Qautre's aquamarine eyes that everyone but the D.J. missed, and he simply grinned in response before he turned to switch the CD to the swing music that would be found at a speakeasy in the 1920s. They made their way over to the oval bar, Duo once again dancing as he walked, he tried once to spin Heero, but found himself being dipped by the young man instead. He was immediately lost in those deep eyes, the butterflies in his stomach taking flight again. The urge to lean closer to Heero was so strong it took everything he had, including his full concentration on repeating in his head 'I will not give in to this, he is my competition, I will not give in,' in order to stop himself from laying his head on gorgeous boy in his embrace. When Heero stood Duo back up, he held him close until he was sure Duo had his balance and the braided boy almost lost his control when a stray thought slipped into his mind 'Damn he smells good.' To Duo he smelt like Old Spice, but the cologne smells different on everybody when it interacts with their body chemistries, and on Heero it smelt edible. Duo walked the rest of the way to the bar.

"I don't know about everyone else, but my friend here will take a slow comfortable screw." Trowa arched one delicate eyebrow at the blonde's interesting drink request, but then realized that the title suited Duo's personality much more, and that it must be the driver's favorite drink.

"Ah come on Qautre, start me out with something a little lighter, what if the warrior princess holds Wufei up, can't I have like a Shirley Temple or something." Duo looked a little nervous, Heero couldn't understand why, the blonde seemed very nice and he didn't think he would actually force Duo to drink until he's hammered just because their friend was running late. Then again he didn't know Qautre that well and the look in the blonde's eye was a little frightening.

"You can pace yourself after this one. Bartender!" Qautre laughed again in that scary crazy laugh that gave Heero the goose bumps. The bar tender looked Qautre up and down and then glanced around at his group of friends eyeing them all suspiciously.

"Look I dun' know how yeh got past Rashid, but I think yeh gotter be a bit too young ter be in here." He told them in a heavy accent that Duo couldn't place right away, it sounded from somewhere in the Middle East but he couldn't pinpoint it exactly. He watched as Qautre just smiled knowingly at the man while he pulled the rose picture out of this pocket. He discretely handed it over to the bar tender who took it hesitantly. The strangely handsome man looked at what he held in his hand and did a double take at Qautre before apologizing profusely, with his accented voice, as he rushed to get Duo his drink.

"Damn." Duo uttered as he accepted his glass reluctantly. He gulped the entire thing down as fast as he could and, like an old pro, didn't even grimace in the least. Heero had to admit he was impressed, but a little intimidated, and was glad that this definitely made him the designated driver. Heero watched interestedly as the bar tender handed Qautre back his rose and the blonde responded with what he assumed was thank you, but it was definitely in the man's native language. The man smiled and said something back and they both laughed. Heero smirked at the curious exchange, obviously there was a lot more to this blonde than what meets the eye.

"How about we go find a place to sit, maybe upstairs?" Heero suggested trying his best to seem natural, when he was really trying to get Qautre away from the bar before he came up with any other bright ideas.

"Oh that's a great idea, that way we can see when Wufei and Meiran arrive." Qautre smiled brightly and Duo looked relieved that they would be stepping away from the bar. He whispered his thanks to Heero as they made their way over to the stairs on the other side of the bar. The upstairs was just as beautiful as the rest, it was the same dark colors and dim lighting, but the lighting was much softer, almost like candle light. The bar was classic looking, like the downstairs one except smaller. The upstairs was composed of a wide walkway that ran all the way around the perimeter, just like the balcony outside. It too was a magical combination of old and new, creating an atmosphere that no one could be uncomfortable in. Where the tables downstairs were for two or three people, up here you could fit up to ten and they ran along both sides of the balcony creating a walkway in between. People were standing around holding their drinks and talking, the atmosphere was very affable even the music was quieter up here so you could hear what your party members were saying.

The boys followed along the left walkway, but Qautre would not stray far from the bar against the back wall. They finally took their seats at a table that had six chairs and was a little less than half way down the veranda. Their table was in a small cul-de-sac in the wall that was barely lit with the soft glow of the lighting fixture hanging above, it too had a single rose in the center. They took seats across from each other. Trowa sat next to Qautre, which left Duo sitting next to Heero. Duo glanced up as a waiter strolled over in a full tux with a white rose in his breast pocket. He smiled politely at everyone, and lingered on Duo which caused Heero to glare at him and that was enough to wipe even the grin off the man's face. In true professional form however, he recovered and quickly plastered it back in place before the others noticed.

"What can I get for everyone? Perhaps I could start you off with some drinks?" He smiled at everyone again, this time keeping it short to Duo and never making eye contact with Heero.

"What do you mean by start off with drinks?" Duo asked flashing the waiter a grin and leaning onto the table. Heero rolled his eyes at the thrilled look on the waiter's face at being addressed by Duo.

"Well sir, we also offer a full range of dinners, this is not just a night club, but one of the hottest restaurants in town." He smiled even brighter at Duo and stepped closer to the table where he was sitting.

"Oh don't call me sir it makes me feel old, the name's Duo." The waiter looked ecstatic that he now had the boy's name. "Uhm I'm not sure we're really here for food, is anybody here hungry?" Duo looked around the table and when he looked at each person they shook their head at him, except Heero who seemed to be too busy glaring at the waiter. Duo couldn't figure out why, but the two just seemed not to like each other.

"Well then what can I get everyone to drink?" He tried to smile seductively and fixed his eyes on Duo. "What would you like for me to get you, Duo?" He asked in an ever so slightly lower voice. Heero snorted and the waiter looked affronted, he glared at Heero but quickly realized that his was nothing compared to Heero's panted icy glare o' death. The waiter finally broke his glowering contest with Heero and turned back to Duo, and in an even more seductive tone he leaned forward and almost whispered "How about sex on the beach, I think you'd like that." Duo quirked an eyebrow at the strange waiter and next to him Heero growled low in his throat. The waiter looked smugly over at Heero and put his hand on Duo's shoulder. Heero glared twice as hard, and to tell the truth, the waiter was scared for his life he just refused to give up.

"Alright you, none of us want anything, why don't you go and do something useful like clean a toilet." Heero growled never lifting the glare from the finely dressed man who had made the biggest mistake in his young life, pissing off Heero Yuy. The waiter looked taken aback, he stood up straight and tugged the wrinkles out of his coat then smoothed them.

"Well then, I suppose when your ready you could flag down a waiter then. Good evening, gentlemen." The waiter said briskly then turned away from the table and walked rather loudly back to the bar. Never again did that waiter come near their table. He even flat out refused to look in their direction, though none of the boys actually noticed this.

"What the hell just happened?" Asked Duo in a bemused sort of way. He looked around the table as though one of them might be able to help him. Qautre looked as confused as he did, Trowa had a slightly amused expression on his face but shrugged his shoulders when Duo looked at him, and Heero was just glaring at the table. Duo merely shrugged his shoulders too and said "Oh well."

"I think that waiter might have had a bit of a crush on you." Qautre said and giggled at the look on Duo's face. Duo looked like he was trying to fight back laughing too hard, but he failed miserably after a second.

"I bet the guy would have flipped if I had told him that I've only been legal for less than a year." Duo laughed hard, but quickly stopped when he saw Qautre get up from their table. "And where do you think you're going?" He asked in the scolding tone of a third grade teacher.

"It's been three minutes, you have another drink coming." And with that Qautre set off toward the bar. It wasn't long before he was back carrying Duo's next glass, it was tall though, and that frightened Duo. When Qautre sat down and placed the tall glass in front of him, he simply stared at it.

"Quatre, what is this?" He picked it up tentatively and swirled it around.

" A Tequila Sunrise. I figured I'd have you drink this and let you off the hook for two drinks. Then we don't have to keep getting up since I don't think our waiter is coming back anytime soon." Qautre smiled at Duo, and Duo glared at the blonde.

"What are you trying to do, get me plastered?" Duo set the drink back down and in front of him and smelled it. "Oh man that's strong. Qautre you suck." He picked his drink back up and held it to his lips. He took a small sip and ripped the drink away from his face so fast that he almost sent some of it flying. One small cough escaped his lips, though he was trying very hard to look cool, especially since he didn't know Trowa very well and he didn't want Heero to think he couldn't handle this. He frowned then squared his shoulders and looked determinedly at the glass. Bringing it back slowly he prepared himself for the liquid, brought it back to his lips, and downed the whole thing as fast as he could.

"There now you don't have to have another one for a good six minutes." Qautre said in a sickeningly sweet voice, he was obviously enjoying the torture he was putting poor Duo through.

"Oh good." He said sarcastically, and then in a much more depressed voice, "I think I'm going to be sick." He pushed the glass as far away from himself as he could and pressed his forehead against the cool tablecloth.

"Qautre, perhaps Duo has had enough for a while." Trowa said soothingly, but Qautre simply ignored him. He knew Duo was faking it, he had seen the boy drink twice that in half the time and barely have a buzz.

They sat there in their alcove talking and laughing, Qautre would occasionally get up and bring Duo new and sometimes very strange drinks. They included a rum cannonball (which nearly made Duo choke), and a Mai Tai (which he actually enjoyed). By the time Qautre spotted Wufei on the bottom level, Duo had a good and solid buzz going. Trowa suggested Qautre go down and get Wufei, and while the blonde was gone he went and got Duo a tall glass of water. He set in front of the longhaired boy and Duo looked at it strangely.

"The buzz you're feeling is actually dehydration, drink this and you'll feel a little better." Heero explained his engineer's actions. Duo took the glass and downed it fast. He really hadn't planned on even drinking that night, and definitely hadn't wanted to get drunk. But Qautre knew what he was doing, he knew how much Duo could have to get a buzz and nothing more, what the guys didn't know is that the really strange drinks Qautre brought back, were ones that most people hardly knew and had only a little alcohol in them.

"Thanks." He muttered to the two, he really did have a good buzz going, and was thankful that Wufei had finally arrived. It was disconcerting to think that his next drink would have been his thirteenth. But now he also felt stupid that Heero had explained that to him, he already knew it of course he just hadn't expected it from Trowa and his little buzz was slowing his response time. He turned and saw Qautre leading Wufei and Meiran to their table pointing out all the interesting things the club had. Wufei was wearing a navy blue tank top with a gold stitched dragon circling around the bottom and a pare of fitting black pants. Meiran was decked out in a long black dress with traditional Chinese embroidery and her hair was down and beautifully straight. They arrived and Duo gave Wufei and Meiran a big hug, Trowa shook their hands, and so did Heero though he seemed much more uncomfortable. They all took their seats, this time with Wufei sitting on Trowa's right side and Meiran on Heero's left.

After proper introductions the group began holding animated discussions with Duo doing a lot of the talking. They talked about what they had been doing lately, they learned that Trowa had worked in a circus when he was younger and that Heero had started racing when he was ten on mountain bikes. Wufei admitted that he had finally decided that he would apply to law school when he graduated from his university, which was rather ambitious considering he would have barely finished his first year. They also learned that Meiran was thinking about a degree in psychology, to which Duo made a lot of cracks about Wufei being her first case study. Duo told the couple all about the rematch between him and Heero, and after enough pressuring, they all found out about the rivalry between Qautre and Trowa.

"I actually met Qautre when he joined the Society for Mechanical Engineers, he had joined right about the time when we had started making designs for a club project. You see each year all the clubs do a project that has to do with what the club is about and the best project wins a prize. That year I think a barbeque with the Dean. I had been at the college longer so I had experience with the project, but Qautre had some great ideas." At this Qautre blushed, the rest of the group also noticed that Trowa looked somewhat strained from his long speech. Qautre seemed to notice this too and decided that he should explain the rest.

"Well I think it was Justin, the treasurer, who came up with the idea of the 'contest within a contest.' It would decide which design idea would be judged in the Dean's competition. Everyone would make their own design and submit it before the end of the year. The cabinet would vote on which one would represent our club and get sent to the Dean for judging. Well I suppose you all have guessed that it was Trowa's and my designs that were getting the most attention. It was almost guaranteed that it would be one of us that would win. It became one of the most heated competitions in school, it seemed more people were interested in which one of us would be chosen than who would win the whole competition. Well I decided to back out of the competition for my own reasons, though many people thought that it was because Trowa had bribed me or threatened me or, and I think this was the school favorite, that I had dropped out because we had become lo… more than friends." Qautre blushed again and smiled shyly at Trowa. "Which was not the case at the time." Whatever else Qautre was going to say was quickly cut off by Duo, whose all too sensitive ears picked up on the exact meaning of that last sentence.

"What do you mean 'at the time' Qautre? You want to tell us something?" Qautre flushed yet again when he realized what he had inadvertently let slip. He stammered a bit, but it seemed Trowa had recovered from his long dialogue and was ready to talk again.

"Qautre and I have finally liven up to our old college reputation." And Trowa left it at that, though no one was confused by the message. Duo had a wide 'I-told-you-so' smirk on his face, Heero looked happy for his friend and tried to deny the minor twinge of jealousy, and Wufei and Meiran wore twin expressions of shocked excitement.

The taunting would have continued, especially from Duo, but at that moment the song switched and Wufei and Meiran seemed to straighten up a little. They looked softly at each other and Wufei extended his hand to his girlfriend. It was this action that caught everybody's attention, much to Qautre's relief, and the couple got up to head down the stairs to the dance floor. It took a while before Duo realized what song was playing. It was 'Only Heart' by John Mayer.

"This is their song, it was the song he and Meiran first slow danced to at that winter formal thing in junior high." Duo smiled fondly at the memory of Wufei calling him the same night and talking all excited about their first dance and the quick awkward kiss they had shared when he had walked her home. For some reason that not even Duo could explain, those two dancing gave him ideas for the first dare he was going to have Heero do. After a few moments of silence at the table the song ended and the couple returned looking enamored with each other.

"So Duo, Wufei tells me that if I don't dance with you tonight you will steal my boyfriend instead." Meiran's small feminine smile could have fooled anyone but Duo he saw it in her eyes that the wheels were turning in her head. She was one of the cleverest people he knew, and definitely the scariest when it came down to putting her plans into action. The maniacal gleam in her eye twinkled in the low lights of the club, her smile looking almost malevolent. "Why don't we all go down to the dance floor, I want to see the downstairs again it was beautiful."

Duo snorted at this, he knew she was plotting something and he didn't like being on the receiving end of it, he usually was her main partner in crime. They all trotted downstairs in a group until they reached the bottom where they lost Qautre and Trowa in the crowd. They headed toward the oval bar in the center and walked around to the side facing the multicolored dance floor. Duo and Meiran were doing some goofy dance moves with each other while Heero stood uncomfortably next to Wufei. The Chinese man smirked at his tense company, he wasn't sure if he and Duo had cleared things up since the hotel but he was pretty sure they had since Qautre said they had arrived together. So the discomfort could only be a bit of jealousy left over form seeing Duo in a compromising position with another man, which Wufei thought was a good sign.

"Hey Maxwell, come over here and have a drink with me." Wufei said still smirking.

"No way Wuffers, I've already had my fair share thanks to you." Duo turned back toward the dance floor and watched as the lights changed into a dozen rainbows that swirled.

"Come on, you ain't man enough to handle one more?" Wufei goaded, he had a plan and if it went right his best friend wouldn't be the lonely one anymore.

"What! Oh fine, one more but this is it." Duo resigned himself to a night of drinking. He had a feeling that, for some reason, this would not be his last. He was sure that Wufei was now in on Meiran's plan. "I'll just have a screw driver." Heero imperceptibly shook his head. He was sure Duo's friends were definitely up to something.

"Yeah ok. Bartender, two screwdriver's." Wufei yelled while holding up two fingers.

Duo took his drink and, in keeping with the rest of the night, he swallowed it in one big gulp. Wufei, on the other hand, took a couple small sips from his glass. Duo sidled over to Heero and grinned at the boy, Heero instantly knew he was in trouble.

"So I've just thought of your first dare, you know something light to ease you into it all. You're not used to me yet, don't want you backing out after the first challenge." Duo chuckled softly and there was something in that soft laugh that made Heero want to let Duo do whatever he wanted to him.

"Alright, what do I have to do?" Heero sealed his fate for the rest of the night as Duo's toy. Although Heero didn't think he would object to that under other circumstances, he had heard about Duo's practical joking in the past and he was a little frightened. He watched as Duo glanced around making sure no one could hear him, then leaned closer to Heero to make sure. Heero took a long breath, inhaling Duo's unique sent.

"I dare you to give Meiran's butt a good pinch." Heero choked even though he wasn't drinking anything.

"Are you nuts?" Heero whispered harshly. He was afraid he would get a fist in his face by Wufei, of worse, Meiran. He was scared to death of Meiran, he had heard the stories, and she seemed a very domineering young woman.

"Well if you're going to be such a wussy. Man and I thought I was being nice." Duo's evil grin widened, he was loving every minute if this, stuff like this was what he did, what he was known for doing. Heero, not wanting to look like a total wimp, agreed and began looking for the easiest way to do this without really getting caught. Maybe he could put a fork on Meiran's barstool when she wasn't looking, then got to pick it up at the last second before she sat on it and 'accidentally' grab her butt in the process. After at least ten minutes of pure deliberation during which Duo was talked into another drink by Wufei, he decided to just say screw it all and get it over with as quickly as possible.

So when Meiran turned toward the bar to say something to Wufei Heero stuck out his hand and, as lightly as possible, pinched Meiran squarely on the buttocks. She whipped around so fast she was a blur and had his wrist in a bone-splintering grip. When she saw it was Heero's hand she was about to break she dropped, but the look on her face stayed put. Heero just looked shocked and guilty, he had no idea how he was going to explain this. He couldn't believe he let Duo talk him in to something so stupid. He cast a quick glance to Duo, and then to Wufei to see if he was going to have to fight tonight. Now Heero knew he could defend himself, he just really didn't feel like it tonight. Meiran however, had caught his glance to Duo, and through years of experience, it took her only an instant to realize what had happened.

"Duo Maxwell you slimy dog, get over here I want to talk to you." Duo tried to look innocent when Meiran called, but he failed miserably. It didn't really matter though, he knew he would be caught the second he had made the dare. After all it wasn't the first time he had done it. He had used it as one of his first plans to get Meiran and Wufei together, it had backfired miserably that time as well but it was damn funny.

They walked around to the other side of the bar and Meiran flung Duo on to a barstool and pinned him to the edge of the bar. The waiter walking by winked at Duo and smiling told him "Quite a woman you got there." Duo laughed and shouted back at the guy "Don't I know it." Meiran looked at him impatiently and a twisted smile grew on her face. Duo got the distinct feeling that he had somehow played right into the plan she had been making earlier.

"Maxwell."

"Ah come on Meiran, now you're starting to sound like Fei-cakes." Meiran laughed, she knew she had the boy cornered and was having great fun with it.

"Duo, sweetheart, why did you make that nice young man do that?" Duo chuckled but it sounded a little forced, in all truth Duo was slightly afraid of Meiran's ability to get what she wanted.

"It was a cry for attention, you had been her for almost an hour and still hadn't danced with me." Duo joked, but the second the words left his mouth he knew he was in trouble. He could tell by the slightly giddy look on Meiran's face that he had once again played perfectly into his friend's hands.

"Well my dear Duo, I think that you should get to dance." The smile on her face brought only one thought to Duo's mind, 'Uh-oh'. "Unfortunately after that little display I don't think I really want to dance with you, but I think you owe Heero something after making him do that." She leaned closer and smiled wider, she really could be frightening when she wanted to be.

"Oh no, no way Meiran, not gonna happen, no ma'am." Duo shook his head rapidly while Meiran just stood there smiling. They both knew he wasn't getting out of this, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to put up a fight.

"Well then I suppose if you're not keeping him busy by dancing with him, then I'll get plenty of time for a chat. You know I bet I know a few things about you that would really interest him…" Duo cut her off before she got into the details of her blackmail.

"Alright, alright you win. I'm going." And he turned to walk back the other side of the bar, with Meiran following behind him smiling. They reached the other side and after ten minutes of standing and a hard nudge from Meiran's elbow Duo finally walked over and sat on the stool next to Heero.

"Hey you know I'm getting pretty bored with this lovey dovey couple over here, what do you say we head onto the dance floor for a bit?" Duo kept his gaze focused on the counter, he could sense the moment when Heero's eyes turned to look at him.

"Is this a mini-reward for a task well done?" Heero's dry sarcasm broke the uneasiness Duo was feeling.

"Yeah, I guess that might have been a little harsher than I intended." He smiled at the handsome young man beside him. "Although I think I got sharp edge of that woman's sword in all this." He muttered so Heero didn't hear.

They got up and weaved their way toward the center of the dance floor there was an awkward pause when Duo stopped, thinking this was as good a spot as any. Heero stepped awkwardly forward. The beat was a fast song from the early nineties, so there wasn't any real need to touch each other. Duo took a step toward Heero too, there was more awkward standing until a guy bumped into Heero's back shooting him straight into Duo then telling him that he needed to 'get with the groove.' So he did. He placed his hands on Duo's hips and moved with the beat. Duo, suppressing the sigh that threatened to escape when Heero placed his hands on his hips, also started to dance. They moved even closer forgetting themselves for the pure pleasure of being close to each other. The music pumped loudly and the two were lost in a sea of sound and touch. They slid and ground against each other, getting so close there wasn't an inch of room between them. It was like magic the way their bodies fit and moved together, sliding up and down one another to throbbing beat.

"Well I think this went well. We should make plots against our friends more often." Meiran smiled at her boyfriend who looked on in a bemused way at the results of his master plan. He had told Meiran about the attraction he had picked up on between the two in the hotel room and she had agreed that it was time their friend wasn't alone anymore. Meiran was absolutely certain, now that she had seen them together, that those two were meant or each other. They would balance each other perfectly with Duo's wild, stormy energy being soothed by the calm, quiet, collected Heero. Yet they would also compliment each other in that they were both caring and, from what she had gathered from their discussions earlier, they both valued friendship above anything else. She also saw the same passion for life burning in Heero's eyes that she had always been so impressed by in Duo's. Despite all that Duo had been through in his youth, he still had a zest for existence that was rarely dampened.

The song ended and a new one started, this one was a lot more recent and it was a slow song. Heero shifted uncomfortably but didn't let go of Duo. But Duo wasn't making any objections he had justified this in his mind already as Meiran forcing him, and besides it was just innocent. All of a sudden as if his brain just snapped into reality, he realized what song was playing, and he also realized that Heero was singing the words into his ear. He looked around and noticed Qautre was standing close to the DJ table, he put two and two together and figured Qautre had asked his DJ friend to play this song when he noticed he and Heero were dancing. 'Clever bastard' he thought, but couldn't help enjoying the sound of Heero's accented voice and the feel of it brushing against his neck.

"I'm quiet you know, you make a first impression. I find I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind." Heero sang softly as they rotated slowly on the dance floor. "Even the best fall down sometimes, even the wrong words seem to rhyme, out of the doubt that fills your mind you somehow find that you and collide." Duo closed his eyes tight, he tried to not think about what this song meant to him. He tried to not think about how true those words rang about he and Heero. It was combining past and future, and he didn't want that he wasn't ready to face it. It was his past, lately he had been trying to let go of his hang ups from his past and this song wasn't going to help. It was even worse having someone else sing it to him, it had been her favorite song right before she…the accident. She had sang it so much, the halls would echo with the lyrics." He squeezed his eyes even tighter fighting back the moisture gathering there. There was a burning lump in his throat that he didn't think he could push down for the rest of the song.

"Hey Heero?" He said and it sounded a little more choked than he had wanted.

"Yeah?" For some reason there was an undertone to Heero's deep voice that Duo couldn't place, but it sent chills down his spine.

"How about we get a drink together?" 'Damn not another drink', he chided himself but it was the only thing he could think of on the spot. And damn it he still sounded shaky, maybe he needed a drink.

"Right now?" Heero sounded a little disappointed but he was covering it up well. "Yeah, sure we'll go back to the bar." Heero walked back to the bar with Duo. He was trying hard not let the thoughts going through his mind reflect on his face, which wasn't hard for him he rarely showed any emotion. But his mind was flashing through a hundred questions which all revolved around why Duo hadn't wanted to dance with him anymore. He had thought it was the greatest coincidence in the world when that song started playing, and had tried to create a romantic atmosphere by singing it but that apparently had backfired. There was so much to Duo that he was sure he would never find out unless he painfully pried these facts out of him, and he didn't feel like doing that tonight.

They got back and found that Wufei and Meiran had disappeared but they sat down on the stools anyway. Heero ordered Duo a Smirnoff since it was light on alcohol, but refused when Duo said they were supposed to drink together. He finally got Duo to stop trying to get him to taste drinks when he said one of them had to be the designated driver and Duo could pick. Since Duo was still feeling a little light headed he agreed that Heero was the best man for the job this time. They sat there for a long time joking around and talking about how weird everyone that Duo knew was, when Duo noticed a young woman standing off to the side of the bar. She was kind of pretty with wheat blonde air and forget-me-not blue eyes, but she had the most obnoxious laugh he had ever heard in his life which is why he noticed her in the first place. She was flanked on all sides by minions (at least that's what Duo was reminded of) who would all laugh annoyingly whenever the blonde did. He noticed that her face always had this look like she had smelled something rotten, and upon closer inspection he noticed that she kept laughing because she was poking fun at the other people in the club, their clothes, their dancing, anything. Duo knew what his next dare would be and it would horribly hilarious. Poor Heero, this woman would be insufferable Duo was sure about it.

"Hey I've just thought of your next dare." Heero looked like a jury had just given him the death sentence.

"So soon?" Duo smiled innocently at his companion's question, which actually freaked Heero out a lot.

"Yeah, but it's an easy one." Heero snorted at this.

"Like the last one?"

"Nah, all you have to do is ask a girl to dance." And Duo slapped him on the back like the good buddy he was, smiling as if he had just given Heero a present.

"That's it? Just ask someone to dance? One dance?" Heero eyed Duo suspiciously. He knew there was something more to this he could see in it those eyes.

"Well I mean, obviously I get to pick who you ask." And the twinkle in his eye grew dangerous.

"It's not like I've got a choice. Fine, who am I asking to dance." Heero cast a nervous glance around the room trying to predict which person Duo had in mind. 'Just please don't let it be Meiran…or Wufei, no he said it was a girl.' Heero thought anxiously.

"Over here on this side of the bar, there's a blonde surrounded by a gaggle of giggling girls." Heero cringed, a bubbly giddy blonde, the thing he hated most in this world. "That's your dare."

Heero sighed in an exasperated tone and pushed himself off of the barstool. Duo watched as he walked nonchalantly over toward the blonde and laughed when it seemed he couldn't find a way though the wall of girls around her. He watched as Heero said something that parted the sea of wonder bras and he approached the dare girl. Jealousy flared up as he watched the girl smile hungrily and stare Heero up and down. She giggled and leaned in closer, twirling her hair around her finger. He could tell the moment Heero had asked her to dance, her eyes lit up and her giggling doubled. His eyes followed the two onto the dance floor where he noticed Heero kept a respectable foot of distance between them. It also sated his jealousy a little when he reminded himself that Heero had held him close right from the start of their dances together. Then again Heero had been pushed into him, maybe he was just being polite when he didn't back away. 'Damn it Duo, do not be jealous, don't do this, you can't be doing this and you know it. Besides you told him to dance with her, so whatever happens you only have yourself to blame.' And somewhere in the back of his mind a resentful voice added 'and that's how you've always liked it, right? Taking all the blame? Beating yourself up, an emotional masochist? Maybe it's time you grew up and stopped acting like a wounded child.' Duo frowned at himself 'shut up,' he thought at himself and with that he turned back to watching Heero do a waltz like dance with the annoying young blonde and, to his displeasure, Heero didn't seem to be hating it nearly as much as Duo thought he should.

Duo eyeballed the couple closely cursing himself for ever daring Heero do this. His jealousy was mounting to the point where he felt like he could scream at Heero for liking the dance, when a young man stepped into his view. He was beautifully dark skinned and very handsome with shoulder length wavy hair and storm gray eyes. He smiled when Duo looked up at him from his seat, and the young braided man noticed the row of perfect pearly white teeth.

"I noticed that the young man you were dancing with earlier, is now dancing with another. I thought that perhaps you would be interested in dancing as well?" The elegantly handsome man was polite and had a wonderful accent, it sounded South African to Duo and it was fantastic, though he couldn't help himself from thinking that Heero's nasally Japanese accent was still the sexiest thing he had ever heard. He took one last glance as Heero twirled the blonde then, after a quick glare at the couple, he nodded and took the offered hand of the man in front of him.

Heero kept glancing over Duo's way through the entire dance with the young woman, apparently named Relena, but he could never catch the braided man's eye. He now watched as a tanned 'playboy' stole his Duo away to the dance floor. 'Great' he thought 'Duo pawns me off on this pink bubble' (for she was indeed wearing a pink mini skirt with pink halter top and pink high heels) 'then he goes off and hooks up.' Relena continued to babble on, and although Heero was ignoring her, she kept taking his grunts as an interest in what she was talking about when really he was growling at the man getting slowly closer to Duo. He watched like a hawk as Duo finished out the song with this young man then was asked by another to dance, he barely realized he was agreeing to another dance with the pink princess. Duo didn't look too happy with the switch in partners, and it soon became apparent why. The man was all over Duo, his hands kept roaming to certain areas and Duo would slap them away. Heero was fed up pretty quickly with this guy and tried to excuse himself from the young woman but she clung to his arm like an animal clings to it's prey. When he was finally able to break free, he felt something being shoved into his hands.

He pushed his way as fast as he could through the crowd until he stood directly behind Duo. He smiled at the man dancing with Duo, though it looked more like he was a protective wolf bearing his fangs, the man frowned and stopped dancing.

"Huh?" Duo turned around and looked stunned when he saw Heero standing behind him.

"I was hoping I could cut in?" Heero said softly and his smile was so genuinely tender, his cold crystal eyes becoming a clear warm pool of deep blue water, that Duo found himself letting go of his current partner and stepping toward Heero before he even thought about it. His dance partner, however, was not ready to let go.

"Hey back off man, I had him first." The guy stepped up and stood less than a foot from Heero, which was a horrible mistake because Heero hated it when people invaded his personal space. You could see it in his face, the big thug could see it too and he looked a little frightened at the change in the young Asian's eyes. The icy fire of those orbs sent chills down the spine, you could sense the hidden power in his wiry form. As he flexed his muscles you could see each one becoming defined under that tight tank top. The dance partner could feel the confined strength emanating from Heero and, in a rare moment of brilliance, the man backed down.

"Whatever man, it ain't worth fightin' for. You can have him." Duo pretended to look insulted by the man, but Heero simply pulled him away and wrapped his arms around him. Duo couldn't hold it back anymore, he burst out laughing and Heero frowned at him confused, though there was still a smile on his face. It felt great to be in Heero's grasp once again, he could feel the solidness of the beautifully sculpted body pressed against his. The intoxicating strength of the corded muscles in the arms that encircled him. He could smell Heero's wonderful cologne, and it all combined to give him this half relaxed half turned on feeling. There were butterflies in his stomach but they were subdued because he felt so happy and content where he was. He never wanted dancing with Heero to end, he could spend the rest of the night there and it would be just as exciting as it was at this moment. He sighed at the feeling of Heero's feathery breath against the back of his neck when Heero pulled him even closer, the whole of their bodies pressed firmly against one another. Duo was breathing fast and shallow, and he knew it but he couldn't control it. He had never let himself get this close to someone before, certainly not someone this hot, and I was affecting him…a lot.

"My darling you have saved me, I am once again in your debt. How shall I repay you this time?" He said, trying to sound cool and seductive, yet make it a joke at the same time. Duo was pleased to note that, once again, Heero held him a lot closer than he had held the blonde.

"Well you could just give me my car back." Heero stated sarcastically.

"No, no we already have an arrangement on that. Hmmm I think your reward will be that I'll count that last dare as accomplished." Heero's eyes bugged out at this, well as much as Heero could, which wasn't a lot he's not very expressive.

"What do you mean, I definitely did what was asked. I danced an entire song with that girl." Heero looked ready to pounce in defense, but he also looked somewhat amused.

"Yes well I'm not sure that I would have passed that one, but I'll give it to you since you were totally about kick some ass in my honor." Heero snickered.

"I think you should give me an award or something one dance and she gave me her number." Heero had expected Duo to laugh, but instead he looked like he had seen slapped in the face.

"You asked for her number?" Duo's whole attitude changed. "Well if you were enjoying yourself so much then I'm sorry you felt you had to rescue me?" Duo snapped. He had stopped dancing and stepped back away from Heero.

"What do you mean, why are you so upset anyway. It's not like you care, right?" Heero was so angry and he didn't even know why. His jealousy over the tan guy, his anger at Duo not returning his feelings, and his confusion about what the hell was happening right now; they were all culminating and surmounting into one huge spell of rage.

"That's right I don't care. I can't care." Duo's eyes were glistening, and Heero suspected there were tears in them and this softened his anger. But he didn't understand what had upset Duo so much. And what did he mean he couldn't? "I didn't need your help anyway, I don't need anybody's help." He yelled, almost louder than the pounding music.

Duo stormed away, Heero tried to track where he was going, but lost him in the sea of people dancing to the now fast song that was playing. He trudged slowly back toward the bar, but noticed that the other four of the group were standing near the DJ table again in front of the stage. Duo, however, was not with them. Heero walked over to his new group of friends, but what he really wanted was to talk with Trowa.

"Hey guys… and girl." He added in his usual monotone. Though nobody else noticed any difference, Trowa was skilled in reading the subtleties of Heero's personality.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a calm neutral voice.

"Where's Duo?" Qautre asked, and Wufei and Meiran looked around too.

"Trowa can I talk to you?" Heero still hadn't made eye contact with anyone.

"Yeah sure."

They took seats opposite each other at one of the small round tables. Heero sat there silent for a long time before Trowa felt that some ice needed to be broken since Heero was obviously uncomfortable with whatever he wanted to talk about.

"You know, Qautre tells me that Duo's hair is so long that when he leaves it down he sits on it sometimes, and that there is a reason behind everything that boy does. He's quite remarkable, Qautre's told me many things that I think you would find interesting but I'll let you find those things out on your own. There are a lot of things about Duo that are rather unexpected aren't there? I do wish Qautre would get off the topic, though." They both smiled, they knew Trowa couldn't care less if Qautre spent the whole night talking about fruit flies as long he was talking to him. But Trowa had this uncanny ability to always guess what Heero was thinking about, especially when it came to things that were bothering him. And he always knew what to say to make Heero comfortable enough to talk to and show Heero that he was ready to listen.

"But he won't tell me any of those things?" Heero stared at the shadows on tablecloth.

"Then maybe you should ask him." Heero froze. He had been wanting to ask Duo so many questions. Trowa always knew, always. A faint smile passed across his face at memories from the past.

"I don't know where he's ran off too." And this time Heero finally looked up, and to his surprise Trowa was smiling, just slightly.

"You know Qautre told me that Duo loves to look at the stars. Something about the vastness of outer space being comforting to him." Trowa looked back toward Qautre and smiled again, his eyes softening. "Maybe you could ask him about that, for starters." Heero noticed the look in Trowa's eyes and followed them to their target.

"You love him." It was a statement. Heero didn't need to ask he just wanted to show Trowa that the mind reading went both ways in this friendship.

"I suppose to you that's obvious." He was well aware of how unreadable he was, but Heero had broken the code pretty fast. Heero was actually able to read him way before he had cracked Heero's personality, he wasn't sure if he had yet fully deciphered Heero's personality. Though he felt that he was the more expressive of the two, and that was saying something about Heero's stoicism. The guy could win a straight face contest with a statue. "I won't just yet, but I think I could say the same to you." Heero took a deep breath.

"I think I should go stargazing. I've heard Venus is supposed to be shining brightly tonight." Heero got up and turned toward the stairs.

"Well then you better make sure he can see it." And with that Trowa walked back to Qautre humming 'Fly Me To The Moon.' When he got back he swept the blonde boy into his arms and kissed him happily. Qautre blushed and the two of them left for a dimly lit table in the back.

"They're absolutely hopeless, aren't they?" Qautre smiled up at the young man he had loved for so long.

"Yes, they're both idiots, but so were we." He smiled knowingly and Qautre did too, this was going to be an interesting evening.

Heero walked around upstairs until he found a pair of large French veranda doors. He stepped out into the cool night air and took a deep breath, trying to calm his squirming insides. Of course from the outside he appeared about as calm and collected as the next guy, actually a lot more so. He looked around for any sign of chestnut hair or black leather pants (which he really liked), but saw none. The balcony was lit by what looked like street lamps from the eighteenth century. They were black and only about six and a half feet tall. They had curled steel designs on them and went all the way around the building. Heero went to the left because it would be easier to see the moon from that side of the building. Sure enough, when he rounded the corner he found Duo all alone leaning against the railing, showered in a soft pool of light from one of the lamps. He walked up slowly not because he was trying to surprise Duo, he had a feeling that Duo had known he was there even before he finished turning the corner, but because he wanted to give Duo time to tell him to go away if he wanted. He got no acknowledgement, which wasn't the best response he had hoped for, but it wasn't the worst either. He walked until he stood next to Duo and leaned on the railing too, he watched Duo's beautiful profile out of the corner of his eye. After a while it became apparent that Duo wasn't going to speak, so Heero decided that this had to be one of those few times when he was going to be the one to break the silence.

"The moon, does it look full to you?" He took Trowa's advice hoping that starting the conversation on a neutral topic would better his chances of not upsetting Duo.

"Yeah, it's almost harvest moon that's why it's so big." Duo seemed to not be upset, but his voice seemed a little hollow, the usual undertone of optimism lacking. "Too bad you can't see any stars, it's been a long time since I've been able to just look at them and enjoy them." His voice was distant again. Something was going through his head, and this time Heero was going to find out what it was.

"What do you see when you look at the stars?" And for a second Heero thought he saw Duo glance at him, but it was too quick to be sure.

"Space is an infinitely dark and cold place, death presses in all around you out there, surrounds you, but the stars still manage to shine through all the darkness." He stared out into space as though all the answers in life were out there somewhere. "People should live their lives like that, it's tough but they should do it." He focused hard on the moon and whispered, "As long as the stars refuse to quit, then so do I."

"Duo, I don't know what happened on the dance floor but I was having a great time with you." Heero tried to think of something else to say, but he just wasn't a charming socialist. "Could you just look at me?" Duo sighed, his head slumping slightly into his shoulders.

"Yeah, sorry about that. That song that played earlier sort of trudged up some old memories that I didn't really want to deal with tonight. And no offense man, but I don't know you well enough to have this discussion." Duo kept his eyes focused on the sky the entire time he spoke.

"Just over an hour ago you were telling me how it felt like you had known me forever. Duo I…look you can't keep everything bottled up forever you'll crack. Believe me, I know." Heero had turned his full body to Duo.

"Heero, it would take way too long to explain. How about you and me just enjoy the rest of the night." He smiled, but it was a sad smile. "Did you really like that blonde chick?" He asked and there was something like uncertainty in his voice.

"What? No she was obnoxious. I think she said she was in the political science program at the local university. She kept talking about politics but it was obvious that she was just regurgitating things she had heard, other people's ideas, and didn't really understand them." He looked accusingly at Duo since it was his fault he had to dance with that girl. " And she wouldn't shut up, she kept clinging to me even though it was obvious I didn't like it. Then she had the nerve to hold me back and shove her number into m hand when I was trying to get to you. No I think she is the only person that I can honestly say I couldn't find a single good thing about." Duo laughed, for some reason he felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from his body.

"Well then I guess the dare was successful after all." He turned to Heero and this time when he smiled it was real and it reached his eyes.

"Your eyes, I've just now been able to tell what color they are. They're purple." Heero said smiling amazed at the beautiful unique color that he had been blind to all day. Duo shyly half shrugged, trying to throw it off like nothing, but he knew a lot of people thought his eyes were cool when then saw them.

"Only in certain lighting, usually they're more an indigo blue." And Heero noticed that his eyes had changed with the way the lamps on the balcony caught them when he had turned. And now as Duo stepped out of the lamp's light they faded back into that same indistinguishable color in the shade of the night. They stood there for a minute, neither sure of what to say or do, then Duo laughed and Heero laughed with him and together they strolled back into the club like a couple of old friends.

Inside the club they met Trowa and Wufei and quickly discovered that Qautre and Meiran were missing because they were sharing a tango, the music variety in this club amazed even Duo who considered himself a music guru. Wufei admitted that he was impressed with the talent Qautre showed for this kind of dance, to which Trowa merely smiled knowingly and Duo told them all that since Qautre's family was wealthy it was like some weird requirement that he take every form of ballroom dancing known to man. The song ended and the two came back slightly out of breath.

"I will have my dance now Duo. I was going to hold out and make you dance with Wufei, but I don't think he should have the all the fun. Besides you still owe me for that little stunt earlier, I may just make you dance with Wufei for that instead." She smiled and laughed almost innocently, but failing.

"Well I don't know if you should say dancing with your boyfriend is a punishment, but I will gladly accept the honor of giving you this dance my lady." Duo bowed making an extravagant gesture with his arm. Meiran smiled and offered her arm, they strolled out on to the dance floor as a Samba started to play. Wufei's jaw nearly hit the floor when the two started to dance.

"I knew he was a good dancer, always has had a natural rhythm, but I had no idea he knew how to dance like that." They all stared in amazement. "I mean anyone who dances with him knows that he's amazing. Right Heero?"

"Hn." The truth was that Heero hadn't paid much attention to how well Duo could dance, he couldn't think about much at all except the feeling of that surprisingly muscular body pressed hard against his. But now that he could see, he had to admit that it was a shame he hadn't noticed it while they were dancing because Duo was unbelievable. It was obvious that someone had taught him the basic steps, but he did so much more than that and it all had his own personal flair added to it. It was like the dance was another outlet of Duo's personality, and it was just as amazing and beautiful as he was. The dance made you feel joy and like Duo did, but there was a hint of sorrow in his fluid steps. It was beautiful, Heero was entranced and he wasn't the only one.

"I had no idea that when I taught him the dances that my father made me learn…" Qautre looked like he was in shock. "It's like watching moving art." Duo paced the dance floor with Meiran doing spins, and lifting her in the air with some of the fanciest footwork that made even Qautre wonder where he got it from. The song picked up in speed and Duo seamlessly increased his pace, doing tighter twirls with Meiran and ending perfectly with the song by flinging Meiran into super low dip her hand almost brushing the ground, the other wrapped around his neck. They smiled and Duo hauled her up to the applause of half a dozen people that had been next to the dancing twosome. Duo grinned and scratched the back of his head. He was obviously confused as to why these people were clapping at him. Meiran just smiled and happily took his arm so together they could march proudly back to the rest of the group.

There was a chorus of compliments when they got back to the group. Everyone felt they had to tell Duo just how amazing he was and how great Meiran was too. Duo shrugged it all off, and despite feeling a little too inebriated, he drowned out their appraisal in another drink at the bar. Meiran took Wufei out to the dance floor telling him it was time to prove that he was her boyfriend. Qautre and Trowa headed out to dance floor too, inspired by how fun Duo made it look.

"Got my next dare?" Heero said in the tone of a man who had accepted a horrible fate, like his plane was about to crash and he just asked the stewardess for another whiskey.

"No, but I'm thinking about it." He watched the other couples dancing, happily in love, and ordered another drink despite his best judgment. Heero watched him do it and considered saying something, but they had just got back on friendly terms and he didn't feel like having another spat.

"I'd ask you to dance but there seems to be a bit of a curse tonight on that." Duo laughed, it was good to be able to laugh at what had moments ago been tense and uncomfortable. Even Heero laughed a little, which made Duo feel even better. He smiled and looked down at the drink he held in his hand, not really wanting it anymore. He was on the edge of drunk and in a few minutes the alcohol would probably really settle in and he would be in for it. He glanced at the watch on the wrist of that hand holding the drink, and noticed that it was after one o'clock in the morning. Well then it was time to pull out all the stops, he would need Qautre for this.

"Alright I have your last dare, you wait here I have to do something first." Naturally the fact that this dare required some set up scared the hell out of Heero, but then again every dare that night had scared the hell out of him. He stayed waiting at the bar for Duo to return, but Duo didn't return. After ten minutes he started to worry that Duo wasn't coming back. 'What, the dare is I have to find my way home without a car? Or maybe this requires that much set up? Damn, this sucks.' All kinds of crazy thoughts passed through his mind as the minutes ticked by, like what if Duo were hurt, what if that guy came back and hunted Duo down, what if Duo was really still mad for whatever reason and had used this as an excuse to get away from him.

Heero considered ordering a drink to make it easier to pass the time, but he finally decided against it considering they would be going soon and if he got pulled over he would fail an alcohol test. But still he felt conspicuous sitting at the bar without a drink in his hand. He didn't have to worry about that for long though, out of nowhere the whole club went almost pitch black. At first Heero thought that the power was out, then the crazy thought entered his head that this was all part of his dare. He laughed at himself over this one, there was no way Duo would go through that much trouble for a game. It finally hit him when he heard the D.J.'s voice boom over the audience's whispers of concern. This was a promotional stunt.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight I have a real treat for you. And since I am who I am, we all know that this is one fantastic treat. Q has gotten a special entertainer for you, he's young, he's hot, and he's got one hell of a cute ass. Tonight, this one is definitely for the ladies, here he is girls the sweetest little hottie with a sweet hot body, Heero Yuy!" The D.J.'s voice resounded and echoed off the walls. Heero sat on the barstool stunned. He could hear people behind him beginning to whisper. One of them further in the back was Relena, she was bragging that she had danced with him and that they had really hit it off. Before he even had time to think about how delusional this chick was, he found a spotlight searching the audience and landing directly on him 'There's been a mistake.' He thought. 'It has to be some kind of mistake.' He was planning out his apology in his mind, he would just have to explain that he was about the furthest thing from an entertainer you could get, despite his career choice that is. However he noticed that at the front of the stage Duo was standing by, more like leaning against, the D.J. booth with another drink in his hand. This was all part of his dare. Duo really would go through all that trouble just for a game! 'Shit.'

"Come on down to the stage Heero, we have everything set up for you, and thank you honoring this humble night club with your heavenly voice." Heero recognized cheesy crap like that. Duo was definitely feeding the Dr. H. lines. But if this was a dare, he didn't have much choice but he was so leaving right after this. He stepped off the barstool and the whole place erupted in cheers, the lights came back on but they were even dimmer. The spotlight followed him as he made his way to the stage, as if it were a cage of light preventing him from escaping. He climbed the steps at the side of the stage and noticed there was a band all set up for him. He watched as the spotlight moved in front of him to form a circle of light around the microphone.

With courage that even Heero didn't know he had, he stepped back into the spotlight and took hold of the microphone post. He stood still, having absolutely no idea what to do. Looking down he could see the D.J.'s booth and Duo standing next to it grinning, but that was all he could see thanks to the dimness of the lighting. 'Just pretend there's nobody else there, you're just singing to Duo. You've done it before.' And a malicious voice added, 'And he didn't like it too much did he.' Heero fought with himself on stage finally coming to the conclusion that Duo seemed to be enjoying himself now so as long as he didn't sing the same song this should go fine.' He glanced back at the band behind, leaned far away from the microphone and covered it.

"Anybody tell you guys what I'm supposed to do up here." They all smiled at him.

"Nope, but I think you're supposed to sing a song." Said one band member.

"Yeah I had gathered that much." Heero replied in his sarcastic monotone. The band laughed muttering 'I bet you had.'

"Man this has got to be one of the best practical jokes I have ever witnessed." There was laughter and consent from the rest of the band.

"Yes that makes me very happy for you. Now how about we decide on a song so I can get out of here." They all chuckled.

"Alright, alright. Keep your pants on, and I mean that there are a lot of people out there." The guitarist said and the whole band laughed again.

"Har har. You guys are a riot really, and I'd be happy to do this off stage. But right now let's just do a song, a short one, and let me get down." They smiled and nodded.

"Yeah let's stop giving the guy a hard time. What songs do you know?" The band looked at him expectantly, and wouldn't you know it he couldn't think of a single one. Damn it he was supposed to function great under pressure.

"Oh, how about that one by Dashboard Confessional?" The band looked around at each other.

"You mean 'Vindicated'?" Asked the guitarist.

"Yeah that's the one." He nodded and turned back to the microphone. "Whenever you're ready just start." Heero fixated his stare on the microphone.

"We don't know that on." Said the guitarist again.

"What?" He whipped back around but his what had made into the microphone and he could still hear it echoing. 'Damn' he thought 'that's how loud I'm going to be, I don't think I could take listening to my own voice at that level.' It took him a second but he realized that the band was laughing again.

"He's still messing with you, we're ready to go." He would have given the guitarist a patented death glare, but he all he could manage to do was take a deep breath and steel himself for what he now considered a mission.

He grabbed hold of the microphone and the band started playing the song. His adrenaline burst when he realized he would have to jump in and, despite his nervousness, jump in he did.

"Hope, dangles on a string, like slow spinning redemption…" Heero sang in his deep nasally tone though his accent disappeared in his crooning of the lyrics. Duo paused, the smile on his face slipping for a second to a look of shock, but he was back to grinning big before Heero had finished the first lyric. The audience was silent, even the whispering girls had nothing to say. It was tragically beautiful, slightly off key when he tried to reach the higher notes, but still beautiful. There was so much emotion in it, so much hopeful sorrow, that you couldn't help but be swept up by it and carried away.

"So turn up the corners of your lips. Part them and feel my finger tips." Duo closed his unable to prevent himself from imagining the scene Heero was painting with those lyrics. "Trace the moment, fall forever. Defense is paper-thin. Just one touch and I'd be in too deep down, to ever swim against the current. So let me slip away…" Heero looked directly at Duo as he sang the song lyrics and wouldn't let go of those violet eyes. Duo stared back as if his gaze was locked with Heero's by some unseen force. He kept thinking that he needed to look somewhere else. He felt that familiar feeling of needing to glance away that overtakes all people when they hold eye contact for too long. There was a strange feeling in his chest, a sort of awareness of the empty hollow that now caused him pain. It was like Heero's singing and his eyes had reached into his soul and started to try to fix the cracks that threatened to rip him to pieces.

"Like hope, dangles on a string, like slow spinning redemption." Heero finished the song but stood still in front of the microphone while the band played the last of the melody. When they had finished the audience remained silent for a few moments, then the entire club burst into raucous applause. He gave a small wave and hurried to the stage exit, applause followed him all the way to the stairs. Even when he had stepped of the last step and was making his way through the crowd toward Duo, they were still applauding. People kept clapping him on the back and giving him compliments, one person even asked when they expect his first CD release.

"We are going back to the hotel now." Heero said in a no-nonsense tone but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. Duo couldn't help but get lost in those after they had been so fixed on him, and now they were so close. It took a few moments for Duo to snap back into reality, just in time to hear Heero say, "We're getting in my car and I'm driving us back."

"Yeah okay, you've earned your car back." Duo said and Heero noticed that there was a slight slur to his voice, and that he was still leaning against the booth.

"Duo how many drinks have you had?" Heero asked, and despite his monotone, there was a hint of worry in his accented voice.

"Like six, I'm fine." Duo tried to stand to prove that he was fine, but teetered dangerously and finally grasped the edge of the booth again for support.

"Qautre alone gave you at least twelve, and six is a lot anyway those are hard alcohol drinks." Hero walked over to stand next to Duo with the intent of being his support as they left the club. The D.J., who had been missing from his booth, came running up to greet the two.

"My boy that was spectacular. You and Duo are welcome in my club anytime. With or without Qautre, come see me and you will be treated as special guests." He said in a way reminiscent of an old Mafia boss, but a lot less frightening.

"You guys have to do me one favor, Duo you owe me after this." Duo laughed and nodded. "They saw you guys standing here and rumors about Duo's dancing have spread like wildfire. You guys are a famous couple now, the singer and the dancer. I'm hearing a lot of talk about you two sharing a dance, so what do you say? You can leave right after, since that's what you were planning." He smiled and looked hopefully back and forth between the two.

"It's true, I do owe him. He went through a lot for that final dare." Duo slurred and weaved a bit.

"Well I don't know if he'll even be able to dance but alright, we'll do it before I take him back to the hotel." Heero took Duo's hand and a jolt passed between the two of them, Duo momentarily sobered up at the contact.

They walked cautiously out onto the dance floor. People all around them backed off and formed a large circle waiting for the last dance to begin. Duo stood in front of Heero less than a foot away, their eyes locked, waiting for the music to begin. Heero took two steps forward placing his hands on Duo's hips and pulling the boy closer, the braid brushing against his hands during the movement. Duo's breath hitched when his body met Heero's, but he still managed to drag his hands up the sexy Asian's arms to wrap them around his neck. They stood there holding each other, their hearts beating fast and their breaths getting shallow, still waiting for the band to start playing. The song started off a low mournful waltz and, after a pause of uncertainty, Heero took the leading step.

It was even more beautiful and touching than when Duo and Meiran shared their dance. The whole audience could easily sense the chemistry between the two dancers. The tension in the air was palpable. Duo was fluid and graceful and, surprisingly, Heero was just as graceful and had just as many beautiful dance moves. They circled the dance floor and each other, their modern clothes providing a wonderful juxtaposition to the classic dance they were performing. The mournful tune picked up and the morose atmosphere turned to one of apprehension as the two doubled the efforts of their fantastic footwork. Heero twirled Duo out but held on to his hand so their arms were locked and fully extended, then he whipped him into a tight twirl back against his body. The crowed was silent as they continued their waltz. They moved around in a circle, but while they moved Heero spun Duo too. It was gorgeous and required a lot of concentration or talent or practice, probably all of the above. Heero couldn't help it, when he stopped spinning Duo and threw him into a dip he smiled down at the boy in his arms. There was a collective sigh from the woman in the audience. Now Duo started to take the lead. He threw them into a tight spin and circled around the perimeter of the circle. The song slowed back down and their dancing became that melancholy grace once again. They ended holding each other close, Duo bent back just slightly with Heero leaning over him. They were panting hard, Duo became hyper aware of Heero's hands holding firmly against the small of his back, their bodies pressed tightly together. Heero's breath ghosted across his lips, they were so close and in a perfect position for a kiss. Duo's stomach twisted and his panting became harsh, his eyes slipped closed as Heero leaned a little closer, both their lips were parted, puffs of shaky breath mixing in the small gap between their mouths. Heero's nervousness spiked, he wanted to close the gap but was afraid that Duo didn't want that. He was getting mixed signals. Right now Duo looked like he wanted to be kissed, but most of the time he seemed like he didn't want to get any closer to Heero. Heero leaned in slowly giving Duo time to back away. Duo's stomach kept twisting. His internal monologue would have confused the hell out of anyone. It consisted mainly of Duo telling himself that he wanted nothing more than to share a kiss with Heero, but another part of him kept yelling about horrible repercussions, that Shinigami has been starving and waiting for someone to get close enough for him to take. He could feel Heero shifting, getting closer. It was now or never, his mind pulled him hard in opposite directions. The butterflies in his stomach shot to his throat. He finally decided that he better pull away, not only because he wanted Shinigami's taunting voice to shut up, but also because he felt his nerves were going to make him throw up.

But he didn't have to, a deafening applause erupted from the club patrons and Heero pulled back quickly as if he just remembered that they weren't alone in this place. Duo too had forgotten all about the massive audience they had gathered, and he stared around dumbly now becoming aware again of just how much he had drank that night. All the spinning and nerves had made him feel like he was going to hurl and without Heero holding him, the room began to spin dangerously. Heero looked over and noticed that Duo's upper body was rotating in his spot. Heero grabbed hold of him, and began to carry him through the crowd. He reached the boys and Duo had just enough time to tell Wufei that he had pretty eyes but his butt wasn't as nice as Meiran's, before he passed out in Heero's arms.

Heero told the rest of the group that he was taking Duo back to the hotel. He told Wufei and Meiran that it was nice meeting them, and said that he would see Qautre and Trowa at the hotel. He hauled a barely conscious Duo out of the club to the song 'Closing Time' by Semisonic. "Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end…I know who I want to take me home…" 'Well Duo I don't know if you planned on having me take you home," Heero thought, "but you're not in the position to argue against it either. And you better be thankful someone saved your drunk butt.' When a valet spotted them he instantly asked which one was their car and ran off to get it, he even helped put Duo into the passenger seat. Heero pulled out slowly, being careful not to disturb Duo too much. He kept a watchful eye on Duo the whole way back to the hotel, making sure he was ok.

They pulled into the hotel in the early hours of the morning. It was so late that there was only one valet still standing out there. He took the keys and helped Heero get Duo to the door. Nodding silently he respectfully left the two to go back to their rooms without too much fuss. Heero dragged Duo into the elevator and pushed the button for their floor, he just hoped that no one else was awake. He really didn't feel like explaining himself to one of the older drivers. The elevator dinged, signally the end of their ascent and he pulled Duo down the hall towards Duo's room. He leaned Duo against the doorframe while he turned the knob to let them in. He turned it the other way, no good though it was locked and he didn't have a key. He looked to Duo, it would be invading the boy's privacy but how else was he supposed to open the door. He began to search Duo's pockets reminding himself to not think dirty thoughts, especially when he started looking in the back pockets. Duo really didn't have a lot of storage space on his outfit, and a key was nowhere to be found. 'Great' Heero thought, 'He probably figured we would all go back together and Qautre would have his keys.' Heero shook his head and dragged Duo all the way back to the opposite end of the hall. He very cautiously unlocked his door, the bundle known as Duo hanging limply at his side held up by only his right arm.

He stumbled into his room, Duo weighting him down and making movement awkward. He took a moment of debate before and, glancing at Duo's passed out form, placed the boy gently on the full sized bed. He and Trowa had gotten a room for one to save on expenses and they had taken turns sleeping on the couch. He turned Duo on his side just in case the boy got sick in his sleep, he didn't want him to asphyxiate on it in his sleep. The next ten minutes he spent sleepily fixing himself a bed on the couch, the whole time he kept glancing at Duo's peaceful sleeping form in his bed. When he had everything ready and was about to turn out the lights, he just couldn't control himself. He walked over to Duo and leaned over him, just watching his beautiful face relaxed in slumber. He smiled faintly at the wisps of hair that had come loose from the braid and lay gently around Duo's face. The boy's lips were parted and a light snore was coming from that tempting mouth. Heero reached down and brushed his knuckles against the soft skin of Duo's cheek, sweeping back a few strands of stray hair.

Duo suddenly tossed fitfully in his sleep, grabbing hold of Heero's fist, which had still been cupping Duo's cheek. Heero was jerked forward as Duo continued to roll over. He was leaning so far forward over Duo, that he had to concentrate on keeping his balance. He tried to steady himself using just the edge of the bed, not wanting to disturb Duo's sleep. He tried to slip his wrist out of Duo's grasp, but the guy was clutching on to it like a lifeline. He pulled one time too hard and Duo violently yanked back and turned completely over, taking Heero down with him. At the last second Heero was able to kind of catch himself with his free arm and lower himself to the mattress. Unfortunately Duo had a really good lock on his arm now, and Heero was reluctant to move and wake the sleeping beauty. 'Yeah right, you're still in this bed because you don't want to wake him up.' His mind Taunted sarcastically. He told himself to shut up and curled up next Duo without actually touching the boy, except for the arm that Duo had pulled around himself and clung to tightly.

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Wellthat was it, I hope you liked it. Please review and don't yell too much at me for the wait, I won't do that again. You are allowed to yell a little though, I deserve it. The title of the chapter is a super old film that has nothing to do with the plot ,I just liked the name as the name of my club. Okay expect the next chapter soon, it won't be nearly as long but that's just how it works.Can't wait to hear what you guys think. See you next chapter. Oh and sorry for all the grammar mistakes, I would have to stop at odd times then resume sometimes mid-sentence so it's a little chaotic. Right I'm done now so you can go review, yes? Yay.


	8. Devil's Paradise

Hello again, I guess it's been a while. I don't know I'm kind of loosing interest in the story, I think we all are. I'm going to coninue for now just cuz I like to finish what I start, but updates may be slower. I'd like to work on other things and maybe get the fanfiction section on my site up. I haven't played around with my website in forever, I probably left it in shambles. Anyway here's the next chapter. Oh and a quick warning, there is very brief nudity in this chapter, seriously it's nothing to get excited about, or angry if you don't like that stuff but then why would you be reading this. Sorry babbling, right, on with the chapter!

Devil's Paradise

Chapter 8

It was a beautiful the morning, the kind of morning that makes someone actually want to get up early just to watch as it fades away into afternoon. In a quiet hotel room two boys slept curled up against each other in a thick white cotton comforter. One boy had beautiful long chestnut hair that had fallen out of its usual braid and was draped over the entire bed including the boy next to him. His body, like his hair, was sprawled out with one arm and leg wrapped partially around his companion. The other man lay perfectly still on his side facing the boy next to him, sleeping better than he remembered ever in his life. His long lashes brushed his cheekbones and his soft dark locks made a beautiful contrast against the white pillowcase. The glowing green numbers of the alarm clock on the bed stand that had been flashing 6:29, suddenly changed and with that the room was filled with music from the clock radio. The sleeping inhabitants were pulled out of dreamland with a song by Ingram Hill. Which wasn't too bad, it didn't snap them awake more like gently roused them to the waking world.

"I woke up from my sleep to the sound of that voice, from the words that I heard I had no choice." Heero instantly stirred to life, though it was a rather bewildered state of half-sleeping during which he blindly groped at his left side for the offending device, but failed miserably. 'Had no choice but wake up thanks to this damn song.' Heero thought in his grogged state of mind. Duo on the other hand was so caught up in his blissful sleep that it took until the third lyric of the song for him to blink awake and even then he was still asleep he just had his eyes open. He looked around the room without really seeing, and turned to Heero.

"Oh man, shut it off." The longhaired boy said then groaned sleepily and fell back asleep. Five, four, three, two, one . . . Duo's eyes shot open, he sat up as quickly as he could grabbing at all the hair the he saw fly forward and attempting to pull it back and hold it like some kind of pony tail. Heero was definitely awake now. Duo realised he still had a leg draped over the other boy and quickly drew it back with a flush staining his already lighlty tinged cheeks.Heero pulled himself up to a sitting position against the headboard and stared at the longhaired boy wholooked back at him wide eyed.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?" Duo's look of fear turned quickly to suspicion and anger. He pulled tightly at his hair and tried separating it into pieces to braid it again. Heero looked puzzled back at Duo, his brain still not fully up to speed from the sudden wake up. He did however realize that Duo's hair was down and if there was a more breath taking sight in this world he had never seen it. It flowed around the boy and caught the sunlight of the early morning softening the edges around his face in a beautiful glow. He shook his head, he was supposed to be answering Duo's question.

"I'm not, you're in my bed." Heero responded after his mental lapse of a few minutes then mentally smacked himself at the way that sounded. Duo looked shocked by this new information, he turned away from Heero still holding his hair close to him trying to assemble something that looked like his braid.

"What do you mean, what the hell happened last night." Duo finished off braiding his hair, much to Heero's disappointment. He remained facing away from the boy, his voice sounding much more frightened than angered like it had a moment ago. Heero watched Duo's back with a heavy sense of regret even though he wasn't sure exactly what it was that he regretted.

"Nothing happened Duo, you were drunk and I took you back to the hotel." Heero tried to fix whatever had gone wrong. He knew allowing himself to stay in bed with Duo was a bad idea, but he hadn't wanted to disturb the boy's peaceful sleep. Duo turned slowly and hesitantly back to the boy, the anger gone from his eyes and replaced by sadness and still some suspicion. Heero hadn't realized before how hard it was for Duo to trust him, maybe it was hard for the boy to trust anyone at all. He wondered what had happened in this beautiful boy's past that could do that.

"Why didn't you take me to my room?" He asked, and though it didn't really sound like an accusation, Heero got a little tense anyway. He looked back at Duo defensively, and he could tell that Duo already regretted his question. His anger dissipated and he answered the boy calmly.

"I didn't see any pockets on you, I had no idea how to get into your room. I thought that maybe you figured you and Quatre would be going home together and that he would have his key on him." Heero heaved a heavy sigh, which halfway through turned into a yawn. Duo yawned in response, the damn things are contagious.

"Oh yeah, I keep my keys in a hidden pocket in the lining of my jacket. You wouldn't be able to find them." Duo wasn't sure what had happened last night, but it seemed that it was nothing bad and Heero seemed to have good intentions. He shook his head faintly at how paranoid he was being, unfortunately that caused a wave of pain to ripple across his forehead. Now that he was fully awake, his hangover hit him full force. He groaned in pain and gripped his head in his hands.

"Yeah I figured it would catch up to you at some point. I put the aspirin on the bed stand last night for when you woke up." Heero reached over and grabbed the little white bottle handing it to Duo before he got out of bed. "I'll get you some water." He said as he made his way over to the mini-bar refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. He walked back to the bedroom and tossed it on the end of the bed close to Duo. The braided driver picked it up and popped two pills in his mouth before downing half the bottle. Heero smirked and shook his head, he had never really seen the point of getting drunk, especially considering the consequences, and it was funny to him how someone didn't even intend to really drink could end up with the biggest hangover of them all.

"Aarg, are you laughing at me?" He asked as he lay back down in Heero's bed prodding violently at his temples. Heero had to swallow hard, for some reason seeing Duo in his bed with his hair messy and groaning had caused his mouth to go very dry.

"Do you want to try and sleep it off a little?" He was trying to sound sympathetic, but to him it just seemed to come out as desperate to keep the boy in his bed. He hoped Duo didn't hear the same thing in his voice. Duo cracked open an eye but continued to rub his temples. He felt a gnawing need to stay curled up in Heero's bed, and for that reason he knew he had to leave. He knew he was already way to attached to the kid for his own good, it was getting to the point where it might be dangerous to get know Heero anymore. He didn't want to hurt Heero, and well he really wished he could stay this time, just this once. He liked Heero, a lot, liked him enough to walk away.

"No, I should go to my room and get ready for the day." Heero, who had been standing at the edge of the bed now moved to toward the couch to start cleaning up his makeshift bed that he didn't use. He didn't want Duo to se his face when he told him the piece of information he had just realized a few moments ago. Duo watched him, puzzled by his actions and the fact that Heero had made a bed but had slept in the hotel bed with Duo.

"I don't think you want to go to your room just yet." He said as he kept his face down and folded his blanket, he was sure that some of his defenses were lacking, hell he might even be blushing. Duo frowned, not sure what Heero was saying to him and not liking being the uncomfortable feeling that was radiating off Heero.

"What do you mean Heero?" Duo asked and turned in the bed to face the boy. Heero had heard the rustling of sheets though, and had already turned his back on the boy pretending to fold the sheet he now had in his hands.

"Well, Trowa and I share this room and he never came back last night. So I'm assuming that there's only on place he could be, and that's probably wherever Quatre is." Heero felt weird talking about his engineer like this. The boy had never showed much interest in relationships. Heero had never even heard him mention the blonde before and in a day he had smiled, talked freely and gone missing for an entire night. Yesterday had probably been the most interesting day of his life and it was all because he met Duo.

"Oh." Duo didn't know what to say, he really didn't want that image of Quatre in his mind. He focused on something else, getting out of bed. He didn't really want to think about beds either right now. "Ouch." He moaned as he tried to pull his leather-clad legs out of the sheets that clung to him, there was a lot of noise and struggle but he finally did it. "Never sleep in leather pants."

Heero chuckled, he had regained his composure from the interesting talk about Trowa's nightlife. Although if you had looked at him you would have never known that inside he had been flustered. "Would you like to borrow something to wear until you can get back into your room? Or you can get ready here and we can go do something."

"Yeah that sounds good, but I need to rest a little while this massive hangover subsides." Duo groaned again and started to fall back into bed but stopped when he felt leather sticking to his skin. "Do you think I could borrow something a little more comfortable?" He asked as he pulled at his pants trying to unglue them from his flesh. Heero cleared his dry throat and watched Duo play with his tight leather pants, it wasn't really the leather that was getting to him, though that was helping make him a little hot under the collar. His mouth was dry and his breath was shallower because of the thought of Duo, after having just woken up from spending the night with him, with his hair falling out and now he would be wearing Heero's own pajamas.

"Yeah sure you can." He croaked a little at the end and covered it up with a cough. He wandered over to his wardrobe and pulled out a dark tank top and a pair of sweats. He handed them to Duo with steady hands even though his insides were fluttering. "You can use the bathroom to take a shower too, if you like." Duo smiled at Heero and took the clothes offered to him. Heero went back to cleaning up his couch-bed.

"Thanks. I think I'll take you up on that. I warn you though with all this hair it takes me a while." Heero watched out of the corner of his eye as Duo stretched, his leather pants tightening around his waist and his mesh top rising up above his bellybutton. The boy started tugging at his braid while he walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. The second that door was shut, Heero collapsed onto the couch with his breath a little ragged and his jeans from last night feeling a little too tight. He sat there for a while listening to the sounds coming from the bathroom, which really didn't help his situation. His breath hitched when he could hear Duo unzipping and slowly yanking down those leather pants, he tried to tune out the images that were clouding his brain. He heard the shower water running and that created a whole new set of interesting pictures in Heero's head, but he forced them back and went to change into something comfortable while Duo took his shower.

Duo turned the water up so that it was damn near scalding and began the process of trying to rip his tangled hair with all its snarls, out of the quick braid he had tied it into. He stepped into the hot water waiting for a second for his cold feet to stop burning at the touch of it. Then he immediately dunked his whole head under the stream watching as smeared eyeliner washed away and down the drain. He grabbed Heero's shampoo, in a bit of a hurry to get out of there and not be a rude guest. He popped open the bottle and was surrounded by that fresh intoxicating smell of Heero. He didn't know Old Spice made a shampoo. Inhaling the scent like he was addicted, the longhaired boy stood for several moments lost in a relaxed world with no thought. He finally woke back up to reality when the thought hit him that he was in Heero's shower, in which Heero's naked body had been at some point. These were definitely not the type of thoughts to be having when you were separated from the object of said thoughts by only a thin wall and a closed door. He also realized that he would have to go out and face the guy when his shower was over. That's when it dawned on him, right before he squeezed out a dollop of the shampoo into his palm, it hit him that he hadn't grabbed a towel to fry off with. There was a moment of debate since it would be awkward to open the door now that he was wet and naked, to ask for a towel. On the other hand he didn't really have anything in there with him that he could use as a makeshift towel so he really didn't have many options.

In his top drawer Heero found himself a new pair of boxers and a clean white T-shirt. From the next drawer he got a pair of clean faded light blue jeans. He pealed off his black tank top and threw it into the far corner. He tossed his clean clothes onto the edge of the bed and undid his pants, pulling both them off and his boxers at the same time. He got his new boxers on and leaned forward to get his clean form fitting jeans when he heard the bathroom door open behind him. He froze in half bend then shot straight up and turned around. Duo had cracked the door open and was leaning his head out. Was that a blush on his cheeks or was his face red from the hot water. He had definitely gotten into the shower, Heero could see droplets of water running down the side of his face. Duo's eyes quickly looked down at the carpet like he was embarrassed, Heero smirked.

"Uhm, I was just…could I get a towel?" Heero snapped out of his reverie and quickly grabbed his pants. He yanked them on without bothering to zip them up.

"Yeah, sorry I forgot." He ran over to the linen closet and grabbed one of the white fluffy hotel towels out of it. He walked back over to the bathroom door and slowly approached it, the thought just crossing his mind that on the other side of this door was a soaking wet naked Duo with his hair down. He was suddenly really glad that he had chosen a little looser pant to wear. He handed the towel over to Duo through the crack in the door, and Duo reached out a bare arm, that had steam rolling off, to take it. A little bit of Duo's wet hair fell down over his shoulder, and Heero stopped breathing when he felt Duo wet fingers slide in between his to grab the towel. The jolt of electricity was instant and the feeling of Duo's wet skin against his was almost too much to bear.

"Thanks. I'll try not to use all the hot water." Duo smiled again and looked away from Heero who stepped away from the door. It slid closed with a soft click and Heero went back to getting dressed. He threw on his T-shirt and realized that it was only about eight o' clock in the morning, they still had the whole day ahead of them. He walked over to the phone deciding that if he ordered breakfast now, then it would probably arrive about the time Duo got out of the shower. He placed a large order, getting almost everything on the menu since he didn't know what Duo liked. He figured he would just cover whatever the races wouldn't.

Heero sat on the couch and listened tranquilly to the sound of the water hitting the floor of the tub. It felt like he sat there for hours, just listening, when he finally heard the shower shut off. He turned the T.V. on so it didn't look like he had just been sitting there doing nothing, he flipped through until he found a channel that had music videos on it. The current one was by some teen punk band that thought their lyrics were really deep when all they actually managed to do was sound like whiny little kids who didn't understand what real problems were.

He instead chose to listen to the sounds of rustling clothes drifting from the bathroom. He took a deep calming breath when he heard the door creak open and soft footsteps padded along the carpeted floor. When they stopped he looked up to find Duo, his skin still pink from the hot shower, he was standing next to the couch and toweling off the wet tip of his braid. Heero followed Duo's eyes to the stack of bed linens on the short coffee table, the one's from the bed he had made himself on the couch. He still hadn't put them away, he had gotten so lost in the sounds of Duo's shower.

"Hey Heero if you had a bed made up, why didn't you sleep in it?" The thought had been plaguing Duo's mind ever since he watched the other boy pick up the blanket off the couch. Heero froze, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to explain this one. He could tell Duo the truth or make up a story, but what kind of story could explain it. He stood up to meet Duo eye to eye. Maybe there was a way to explain it and tell the truth but not make this any more uncomfortable than it already was.

"Well, I was going to but when I laid you down my arm got trapped under you and I couldn't move it without waking you up. So I figured we're two adults, it's no big deal right." Damn sounding casual when you're nervous as hell can be hard. Heero tried to stand in what he thought was a natural position but it didn't feel very natural now that he had to think about it. 'No big deal, then why are you so nervous?' He also became suddenly aware of Duo walking up next to him. His back went stiff, it was an old habit of his whenever somebody got into his personal space to go attack mode. He kept himself in control despite his nerves going crazy at Duo's sudden close proximity. He felt a hand on his shoulder and couldn't help but look up to face the boy, he hadn't realized he had been staring at the floor while he talked.

"Heero, I…" Duo looked down at his feet and in blink he had flung himself at the boy. It took the poor guy a few moments before he realized Duo was hugging him. He could feel the other boy's solid form pressed against him. It was even more intoxicating in the early morning than it had been in the club. He feel could it when the boy took a breath, it pushed them closer together and the air when he exhaled would tease the hairs at the base of his neck. He felt his body relaxing into the touch, his mind slipping away at the comfort he felt, even his eyes were begging to drift closed. He could have stayed like that forever. Heero finally managed to clear his mind enough to respond and he placed his hands gently on Duo's shoulders to pull his face far away enough to see it. He could smell his own shampoo on Duo's hair and could feel those wet tendrils tickling his arms. Occasionally a drop of cold water would hit and slide down his hand.

"Duo what's wrong?" Heero asked and cursed himself because all he could think about was how Duo was close enough to kiss. All he would have to do is lean forward a little and he would be able to taste the longhaired boy.

"Nothing, I just wanted to say thanks for taking care of my drunk sorry ass." Duo smiled, but it was a sad smile. "And I'm sorry for being all weird and suspicious earlier this morning." Heero really didn't know what to say, Duo's body pressed against his was still slowing all his thought processes. They just stood there, holding and staring at each other. Duo couldn't back away, why was it so hard to let go of Heero's warmth. There was so much comfort and this warm safe feeling he had when Heero was close to him, he had never felt anything like it and he was scared of it but still couldn't let go.

There was a knock at the door and the moment was broken, Duo stepped away and Heero went to answer the door. A man in a hotel uniform stepped in pushing a cart with a ton of plates on it they all held dishes that smelled so good it made Duo's stomach grumble. Heero stood there for a while sorting out the bill with the hotel worker, Duo sat back down on the couch and watched the T.V. while he waited for Heero to tell him what all the good smells were and what they were for. The video for Green Day's song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was on, it was the weirdest video Duo had seen. He loved the song even if it struck a chord with him that he couldn't handle sometimes, but the video he just couldn't understand.

"My shadow's the only one who walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. Sometimes I wish someone up there would find me, until then I walk alone." 'Oh shut up' Duo thought, guess today was one of those when he didn't want to think about it all. But still he couldn't help the stray thought passing through that maybe Heero was someone who could find him, and he wouldn't have to be alone anymore. He was shook out of his reverie by Heero pushing that huge cart over to the coffee table and opening every plate on it to reveal all the scrumptious breakfast foods underneath. There was a bowl of fruit and eggs and ham and cereals and oatmeal and honey and sausage a mountain of toast. There was orange juice and apple juice, apple pie and pancakes, waffles and jam and biscuits. 'Oh dear Lord I think I love him.' The stray thought crossed his mind and he pushed it out as quickly as it entered.

"My dear boy, before I kiss you tell me what we are celebrating with all this wonderful food." Heero had a shy smile on his face and Duo ate it up, the kid was adorable when he smiled.

"I didn't know what kind of food you liked so I got a little bit of everything." Heero shrugged and Duo laughed, jumping up giddily and running over to the cart that he could no longer resist.

"This is all for me?" Duo picked up a piece of watermelon from the fruit bowl and popped it into his mouth. He usually ate sugary crap in the morning that set him on a high until he could eat again, and with his crazy schedule he never knew when that would be.

"Well I was hoping we could share." Heero said and Duo chuckled.

"What should we try first?" Duo eyed the plates greedily. He picked up a pancake, folded it in half and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. Heero quirked an eyebrow at him then picked up a bowl of plain oatmeal, dribbled a little honey on it and began to eat. It took an hour but Duo ate his way through over half of the plates on the cart. Heero had finished off the oatmeal and picked at a few things but that was really all. He had a hard time concentrating on food when all he could think about was how Duo managed to stay as thinly muscular as he was and still pack away as much food as he did. When Duo finally decided that he'd had enough and Heero managed to stop gawking at the boy they sat down to figure out what the rest of the day held for them. It was about 9:30 now and Heero needed to take a five-minute shower, but after that they were free to do whatever. Duo knew he should just walk away, that he was already in this way deeper than he should be. It was damn obvious that he was in too far if he couldn't just get up and walk away, but well he couldn't.

"Go take your shower, then we'll go down to the track or something." Heero smiled and ruffled his dirty hair.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." He headed towards the bathroom in sort of a dazed state. It was still trying to sink into his head that this morning he had woken up with Duo in his bed, that the boy was wearing his clothes and that they were now going to go hang out together. How was it possible that they had only known each other for a day? "Oh and if you don't want to go to your room yet, you can borrow anything of mine to wear. I think we're close to the same size."

Duo looked down at himself, he had forgotten that he had put on sleepwear, he had forgotten he had planned on taking a nap. When he had seen Heero sitting there, like they did this every morning, there was such a sense of longing in him that he had to hold the other boy. He had to do it, it seemed like such a natural thing to do after waking up with someone that for once he indulged and allowed himself to feel like a normal person. For some reason after that he didn't think about his hangover anymore, he felt perfectly fine.

He heard the water shut off and realized that when Heero said he was going to take a five-minute shower, he meant it. In a few minutes Heero stepped out of the bathroom looking fresh and handsome. He had on the clothes he had put on earlier since they weren't dirty yet. He was rubbing furiously at the mop on top of his head and didn't look like he had any intention of combing it. Duo wondered if that's why his hair always looked like that hopeless bed-head. Heero plopped down on the couch next to Duo and of course said nothing, the boy always waited for Duo to start the conversation. Duo smiled to himself, the guy was endearing.

"So what shall we do today Heero, it's early still. I was thinking about heading down to the track and checking out the competition." It was a strange feeling to be so comfortable with someone you barely knew, but Duo was at perfect ease with Heero by his side, and it seemed that Heero too had let down a lot of defenses from the moment they had met.

"I'm all the competition you've got to worry about." He stated with a smug voice. Duo snorted, it was of course true but still funny to hear Heero say. He kept forgetting that they were sworn enemies in the racing world. "There's a beach just a couple of hours from here. I could teach you to surf."

"You mean I could teach you." Duo shot back before he realized that he had agreed to go with Heero to the place where in his dreams they had almost… Well it was a bad idea to say the least and here he was jumping right in without thinking.

"Like you taught me how to race yesterday?" Heero said sarcastically.

"Hey I'm gonna spank you on the rematch." Duo tossed back, he was still mad at himself for agreeing to the beach.

"Spank me, huh? I guess you like it rough." That shook Duo a little bit, it seemed that even Heero was a little surprised that he had said it. "Anyway, I have a suit you can borrow, but we'll have to rent boards I didn't drag that big ass thing all the way down here."

So, once again despite Duo's better judgment, he was off with Heero on an adventure that involved the possibility of being close to the boy in ways that Duo wasn't ready for. Half naked and wet really wasn't a temptation he was wanted to deal with. Not to mention how good that dream in the shower had been, was it only yesterday that had happened it felt like eternity. Heero grabbed a pair of black and blue shorts the looked like they were made out of the scuba material and he tossed Duo a pair of normal black swim trunks. Duo grabbed a couple of water bottles from the mini-bar then followed Heero out the door.

Down the hall in the same hotel a young cinnamon haired boy awoke, his deep green eyes resting on the sight of his new blonde lover slumbering as he held him in his arms.

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Thanks to everyone who has stuck through this story with me, I love you all. I fixed the Quatre thing, yeah I know how to spell the name I just had it wrong in my dictionary and I hate those red squiggly lines. Anyway I was waiting for someone to call me on it so I would get off my lazy butt and fix it.

Thank you so much Silver Cateyes, I am so lad that someone out there is still reading, and even better you're enjoying it. You're reviews are wonderful, probably the only reason I'm still writing this thing is because your reviews make me want to make this story great.

And Zeno the Stoic, all that goes for you too. I hope I can become a better writer a long the way and really make this worth reading.

There are some plot turns and naturally Relena doesn't give up that easy. I wont give away anymore, but well...I hope you enjoyed and keep reviewing so I know if I should continue.


	9. Days of Thunder

Hey so I guess it's been a while. I'm still kind of losing my focus on this story, but I really want to see it through since it is my first and all. But hey number two is up now, that's pretty cool right? So let's see warnings for this chapter, uhhhh, Duo and Heero spend the entire thing half naked and Quatre and Trowa get a little more than half naked. I think that's it really, now how about all the stuff that could get me sued. Hmm, the title is that Tom Cruise racing movie because well...I couldn't think of a fitting title and we all knew it was coming right? I also use a couple of songs that are definitley not mine. One is "Come Downstairs And Say Hello" by Guster and if you don't know who Guster is I feel so sorry for you and I tell you now you must go listen to them. I think they're more famous on the East Coast, but yeah they're cool. The other is a song by Howie Day, not as cool but the lyrics were stuck in my head when I first started this story so now I'm kinda stuck with them. Oh well, they work well with the story. There's probablymore grammar mistakes than usual, I was kind of busy so my usual cursory check got skipped. So I guess that's all.

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These Boots Were Made For Racing

Days of Thunder

There was a cool breeze rushing through the tiny interspersed weeds that grew on the beach hills, but Duo was warm leaning against the sun-heated metal of Heero's mustang. He watched as his rival bargained with the owner of a small surf shop, but refused to remove his bare back from the hot car to help him out. Then sun was high in the air, it had taken a couple hours to drive to the beach and noon was approaching fast. The crystal blue of the water shone brilliantly in the bright rays from the cloudless sky. There was hardly anybody else on the beach, it was probably the off-season but that meant they wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of screaming kids or anyone recognizing them. Heero came jogging back over to Duo a frown creasing his brows that had nothing to do with sun in his eyes.

"Comfortable?" He asked sarcastically. Duo really loved it when Heero came out of his shell and joked with him, and those rare smiles were worth more than the blue-eyed boy would ever know.

"Very." Duo responded with his usual crooked grin. "What's the word on the boards?" He asked as he finally peeled himself off the car door so they could walk down to the beach together. The soft warm sand felt great under his bare feet as they followed a beaten trail in the sandy hills to the white ocean shore. Duo had forgotten the sounds, he had always remembered the smell, but he had forgotten the amazing sounds. Birds, crashing waves, wind, the laughter of the handful of other people, it was like an orchestra tuning up for the big production. He couldn't wait for that show. The wind gently lifted his braid and played with the hairs around his face that always came loose. Heero's dark mop was whipping all over the place, but the boy didn't seem to even take notice. He just stood there, like a statue, staring intensely at the waves crashing in front of them.

"The guy said he had to get it ready." Duo opened his mouth to respond, but Heero already knew what he was going to say.

"Yes Duo, I said 'it'. The guy will only give out one board to each group." Duo just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really care if they got to surf or not, he had never actually surfed before. Now, now, he never actually told Heero that he had surfed before so he hadn't lied. If he had known how to surf, he would so be able to whip his rival's ass. Though he was a little glad that he would get to sit this out and not have to deal with the other boy's taunting.

"Oh well. You wanna' just swim for a bit to get used to the water." He smirked evilly. "I'll race ya." The competitive spirit in these boys was strong, and for some reason their rivalry on the track kept getting transferred into everything they did together. Duo loved a good challenge, but not many people were willing to compete against him. He was pretty good at a variety of things, and he usually picked up new stuff fairly quick so people eventually just stopped trying to beat him. He missed playing basketball and just having friendly bike races down the streets with his friends. Heero had given him a little of his youth back, the youth he had lost so early on in life. Maybe that was why he hadn't been able to pull away from Heero like he knew he should.

"You're on. Three laps, to those rocks and back." Sparks flew as they stared each other down, both trying to psyche out the other. Duo's lips curled into an unholy grin and Heero's usually neutral face twisted into a sarcastic smile that would infuriate anyone. The boys lowered themselves into running stances, and Duo gave Heero one last wink.

"Okay, on three. One…Two…" And he was off at a full sprint towards the ocean's edge. Heero shook his head and took off after the braided boy making a mad dash for the water. Duo hit the water with Heero not far behind and they both shot off at almost full speed. Poor Duo though, he hadn't been in water very much. Except for that one time Solo had taken him to the beach and the handful of trips to the public pool with the church, Duo had rarely been in large bodies of water. He did, however, catch on quickly and despite his inexperience was at least able to keep up with Heero. Which is actually quite a feat considering the amount of training Heero has had in all things athletic. Duo pushed harder but wasn't able to overtake the blue eyed boy in the water. Heero was shocked at how fast the other boy was, he had to give it everything he had just to keep ahead of him. The cool water streamed over his sun-warmed skin as he plowed through the salty waves. Heero swam the last of the race with Duo right on his heels, when they reached the shore they both dragged themselves out slowly. They were out of breath and their muscles burned with ache, but they were happy in the warm sand just sitting next to each other in the sun.

"I would have whipped you good if I didn't have this braid slowin' me down. Feel it, it weighs like twenty pounds when it's wet." Heero hesitantly reached out and grasped the long chestnut rope in his hand. He had a feeling that Duo's hair was special to the boy, and that very few got to touch it. It didn't even hit Duo that he had given Heero permission to do the one thing he swore he would never let just anyone do. Touch his braid. What did that mean? Did he subconsciously trust Heero that much? Heero let the weight of that silky wet hair press into his palm, not willing to let go just yet. Duo didn't stop him, it felt good to have Heero playing with his hair it had been so long since he had shared something intimate with someone else. It felt freeing. Duo sighed, and Heero let go the braid, afraid that he had held it just a little too long.

"I'll go check and see if we have a surfboard yet." Heero stood up wiping sand from the back of his legs. He walked back to the surf shop willing himself to never forget what that hair in his hand felt like. When he got to the shop's door the old man was already standing out there with a board.

"Take it already, I have other things to do." The old man thrust the board into Heero's chest and turned to go back into the shop. Heero stood there for moment, not entirely sure of what exactly had just happened. All he knew was now there was a surfboard in his hands. 'Geez,' he thought, 'a little old man living in a beach shack, like he really has that much to do. He probably had to go fax his distributor.' Heero shrugged and walked back down the sandy path to the shore. He found Duo sitting right on the edge of the surf letting the white foam from the waves wash over his toes. The dark haired boy paused for a moment to look at his rival, the boy was beautiful inside and out.

"Hey, I got it. You ready to be taught how to surf." Duo looked up at the other boy, there was no way around it. He would just have to admit that he had never actually done this before. Damn, he was never going to hear the end of this one.

"Yeah sure, go ahead and teach me." Heero looked strangely at the boy, he had never given him a noncompetitive answer before. Wait, was he being literal?

"Duo have you ever surfed before?" The braided boy looked away, he was suddenly very interested in the different kinds of shell pieces buried in the sand. He kept flicking them and then digging for more.

"I thought you said you would school me." Heero taunted.

"Well when I learn I'll be the best you've ever seen." Heero smiled at Duo. It wasn't big but it was real, and it touched his eyes. Duo gave him a big smile back and climbed to his feet, dusting himself off the same way Heero had. "Guess we should get to it then."

Heero nodded and they headed back out to the ocean. Duo swam around for a little, getting used to being in deep water and Heero started warming up on the board. Duo was in awe at the grace Heero had on water, the boy just floated on that board. He could change directions, skim the crest, all kinds of tricks and it looked like he wasn't even trying. 'Okay,' Duo thought, 'so maybe I won't be schooling Heero by the end of the day.' Water droplets clung to the Asian man's body and glistened in the sun as he moved with the waves. Duo realized he was staring and swam over to Heero and the board.

"I guess you're not too bad. Yeah, I think you're worthy of teaching me." Heero snorted, he was getting used to Duo's pride but it was still humorous to listen to the boy's defenses.

"Okay let's go back to shallow water." They waded back to where the water only came up to their waists. Duo was skeptical since there wasn't a whole lot of wave action going on at this depth, but he had seen Heero surf so he trusted the guy. Heero held the board out in front of him and beckoned Duo over.

"Hold this next to you." Duo did as he was told. He placed his hands on the surfboard and held it still in the water. Heero waded around the board until he stood behind Duo, which caused the braided boy to tense a little. He wasn't prepared for such up close contact and now he was aware of every sensation around him. The cold water lapping around his waist, the warmth of Heero's body just inches from his back, they were all doing things to him that he really didn't want right now. And before Duo knew it Heero's hands were on his hips, he froze in his spot in the ocean water.

"You need to relax, I want you lie down on the board." For a second Duo didn't comprehend that Heero was talking to him. When he finally took in what the dark haired boy was saying, he couldn't help but think that maybe there was a bit of an innuendo hidden in there. Then again, maybe that was wishful thinking. 'Damn it Duo, you're not allowed to get your hopes for this guy and you know it.' He shook himself, forcing his muscles to relax.

"Lie on your stomach. I'll teach you how to paddle out first." Duo balanced himself as Heero reached around him to hold both sides of the board. His breath caught in his throat when he felt the blue-eyed boy's firm chest pressed against his bare back. He was able to stay on the board while Heero was holding onto it, but the second the other boy let go he felt wobbly like he wouldn't stay afloat. They spent half the day out in the water, Heero holding Duo while the boy learned to paddle out to deeper water. By the time they broke for lunch Duo had learned to swim out and get a good position on the wave. He even managed to stand up once and was able to ride out a small wave to its end. His legs were shaky and he almost fell toward the end, but he stuck through and he could have sworn he saw something like pride in Heero's ocean blue eyes.

Trowa awoke that morning from the best dream he had ever had in his life, only to find that his angel didn't disappear this time when he opened his eyes. Quatre's beautiful aqua eyes stared at him with affection, and he knew that he could never be without the blonde again.

"Good morning." He said and for once his voice expressed the joy he was feeling. Quatre smiled at him with that adorable shy grin that made his knees weak.

"Good morning to you." Quatre responded and added a sweet morning kiss. Trowa naturally wanted to turn that sweet little kiss into something more and just spend the rest of the day in bed with his love, but today they had to get down to the track to give out instructions for what needed to be fixed on the cars.

Trowa pulled away reluctantly and began climbing out of bed but Quatre jumped up and beat the taller boy to the bathroom.

"You know your going to have to share that bathroom, we're running late." The door slowly opened and a shyly blushing and completely naked Quatre opened the door.

"Ah hell we're already late, a few more minutes won't matter." Trowa closed the space between him and his lover and shut the bathroom door behind him.

"A few minutes?" The blonde chided sarcastically. Trowa slowly undressed for his love, Quatre getting impatient and trying to pull at buttons the whole time. When he was finally as nude as his lover he smirked and grabbed the blonde dragging him into the stream of warm water coming from the shower. It was a lot longer than a few minutes before the two boys emerged again with steaming water dripping off their bodies. They got dressed with a lot of pinching and slapping, but soon enough they were ready to go when it finally struck Quatre.

"Hey I don't think Duo ever came home last night." He said and looked around as if Duo were going to pop out of a closet or something.

"I think that's a good thing." Trowa smiled at his love. Quatre looked over to him but his worried expression didn't change.

"I realize that, but where could he have gone? It's not like Duo to disappear for a whole night, a few hours sure, but never an entire night." Trowa could tell that he was worried for his friend.

"He probably stayed with Heero. He looked a little drunk Quatre, Heero wouldn't let any harm come to him." Trowa rubbed Quatre's back in reassuring circles. The blonde seemed to relax a little

"Would you like to go check?" Quatre nodded and they headed out the door and down the hall to the room Trowa and Heero shared. Trowa unlocked the door and they both stepped in, cautiously though in case they were walking in on something. But they found the room completely empty. Naturally the lack of life in the room made Quatre very nervous.

"Trowa, what if they got in an accident or something, it doesn't look like they ever came home." Trowa on the other hand was reassured, but he knew Heero well enough to know that the boy had been there and had probably left sometime that morning. He also knew that somebody else had slept in the bed.

"Quatre, they were here. Don't worry, Duo and Heero were here until sometime this morning." Quatre stared at his lover in disbelief.

"How do you know that?" Trowa smiled at how much the blonde cared for his friend.

"You have to know Heero. You see that over there, it's a receipt for breakfast. Heero never orders breakfast, and that receipt has a lot of things on it. Heero never eats more than a piece of fruit in the morning. And the maids didn't fluff the pillows and there's two head prints in them so Heero wasn't' alone." Quatre just stared at Trowa more.

"And they say I'm a genius, that was like watching CSI. Oh, look in that corner near the bathroom those are Duo clothes from the club. Then he was definitely with Heero last night. I feel much better, thank you Trowa." And he gave his tall lover a kiss of gratitude.

"So we can go to work now?" Quatre smiled and nodded.

"I wonder where they went?" Quatre asked out loud. Trowa just shrugged, with Heero it could be anywhere and from what he knew of Duo it could be literally anywhere.

"I wonder what they did last night?" Quatre blushed and Trowa smirked evilly as they left the hotel room.

"I think Duo was out cold Quatre, don't worry Heero is not the type to take advantage of people in weakened states. I'm sure they just slept all night." Quatre laughed.

"That's not it, I can tell Heero's a good person. I was just thinking it would be good if Duo finally got a little action. It would mean that he's let go of his past." This puzzled Trowa, but Quatre had mentioned things like this before and he had a feeling that Duo had as much tragedy in his past as Heero. They really were meant for each other, maybe he and Quatre should cook up a plan to get them together if they weren't already.

"You did well out there." Heero smirked as he pulled himself up onto the car's hood to sit next to Duo.

"Yeah, what did you expect?" Duo grinned and winked. "After all I am the best man at everything. Now shut up and hand me one of those sandwiches." Heero chuckled silently and handed over one of the wrapped parcels he held in his hand. Duo exchanged with him for a water bottle and they sat happily in the sun.

"Sorry, all the old man had was turkey. He charged an arm and a leg for them too." Most of this conversation had been totally lost on Duo, he had already ripped open his sandwich and had half of it shoved into his mouth. Heero glanced at the boy, he was still cute even with mustard on his chin. 'Damn, I know I shouldn't but I just can't resist.'

Heero reached over and let his index finger run along and collect the drop of mustard. Duo watched every move Heero made out of the corner of his eye, he held his breath as he watched Heero's hand reach for his face. When the boy drew away, Duo saw the mustard on the tip of his finger. Duo was frozen as he waited for Heero's next move. Heero thought long and hard about it but finally decided that now was not the time to be pushing Duo.

"Such a messy eater." He said as he wiped the mustard on Duo's shorts. Duo finally let out the breath he had been holding. Was it disappointment that he felt? What did he want Heero to do? He hid it though, putting his jester mask back into place.

"Ah man, you're lucky these are yours." Heero's faint smile fell.

"Oh, I forgot." Duo rolled over, dying of laughter. He couldn't even breath he was laughing so hard. Heero just looked so adorable. The more he got to know this guy, the more both their masks dropped and they could just be themselves. Duo was scared but it felt good to finally let go a little.

"It's not that funny." Duo just kept on laughing. "Well when your done we can head back out. Maybe I'll be able to get your sorry butt surfing by the end of the day." Duo took a few deep breaths to stop his fit of laughter and followed Heero off the hood of the car.

"See there you go again, you are so obsessed with my butt." Heero just shook his head, and off they went back to the ocean with hot sand between their toes and bellies full of turkey on wry. They were out there until it got dark and Duo was complaining about looking like a giant prune. Heero thought he was a very cute enormous prune, but he kept that to himself. And Duo did indeed learn to surf by the end of the day, though it was shaky and had no where near Heero's grace but still very good for his first time. He climbed back on shore and Heero stayed out for a while to just catch a few before they left. A little off in the distance Duo saw a small bonfire with a gang of guys in shorts and sandals sitting around it. Some were old, others looked like they were around twenty. Naturally Duo's curiosity got the better of him and he waved Heero in.

"What's up?" Heero asked as he dragged his wet form out of the ocean water, the moonlight reflecting all around him and off the water dripping down his body. It took a few seconds for Duo to respond he was so lost in this moment of utter beauty.

"I want to check out what's goin' down over there." He pointed in the direction of the bonfire and Heero looked over to see what had the braided young man all excited. He got his answer. It was a beach bum bonfire, one of the greatest things he had ever experienced in his life other than the freedom of racing. His smile was imperceptible in the darkness, but Duo saw when he nodded his head and the chestnut haired man took off toward the fire instantly. When they arrived, Duo was unsure of what to do but Heero just walked right up to them as if he was their old buddy. It was surprising to see Heero so comfortable in a social situation. The guy didn't exactly scream social skills. Duo stood behind him as introductions were made and Heero took a seat next to a man with long blonde hair. Duo also went to sit down next to Heero, but was stopped by the old shopkeeper. What was the old man doing out here? He guessed it made sense though he was probably a beach bum from way back, maybe one of the first.

"His surfing gets him a spot in the circle, but you still have to prove that you're a contribution to this group." Duo looked puzzled, this had to be the first time that he didn't instantly fit in with a group. Everybody always liked him except for pigheaded homophobic jerks but who needs them anyway. And to top it all off Heero had fit in right away, did the world just flip upside down or what? Well if proof of greatness was what they wanted, he had plenty of that.

"I say we let him in for his looks." Said a man with a mop of dirty blonde hair. Duo blushed, he was used to being the center of attention, but this was different somehow. Maybe because he had to prove himself to these people instead of just being instantly one of them like he usually was.

"Shut up you old pervert." Said the blonde sitting next to Heero. "I say we let him in for his hair." Everyone in the group then turned to look at Duo's hair as though they hadn't noticed before that it almost reached the top of his thighs. There were a few nods of approval but most just look impressed. The blonde was staring at it like it was a gift just for him.

"Zechs is obsessed with his hair." Said an old man in the back of the circle. Duo like his T-shirt's saying: 'I bet you vote this time, Hippie' He liked people who could make fun of themselves, it showed a lot of confidence.

"There's just not enough people in this world that appreciate the effort it takes to keep long hair." Zechs flipped his long blonde locks over his shoulder and there were a lot of side comments coming from the peanut gallery. Duo laughed when one guy said as a practical joke they should cut up a blonde wig and put it in Zechs' bed. Then it hit Duo that that name sounded so familiar. Didn't Quatre's friend the club owner mention that name?

"Zechs, do you know a guy named Treize?" Zechs' eyes shot open wide and there were a lot of catcalls coming from the circle.

"Treize is his boyfriend." Snickered one of the guys.

"Yeah, a real rich playboy. Flirts a lot but he's a good man." Said another member of the group.

"Hey if he knows Treize then he's cool guys, let's just let him hang with us tonight." Said Zechs, obviously trying to redirect the path of the conversation. It worked too. Heero really didn't appreciate the way Zechs' eyes kept glancing over at Duo and lingering. But if the blonde was already taken then Heero assumed that he wouldn't try anything with his gorgeous braided boy.

"Well too bad all of you, he has to prove he has something to offer the group." The old shopkeeper said in a disgruntled tone, but Heero could see a sparkle of mirth in the old man's eyes. Which was good because he was really starting to dislike this old man. Duo looked around for something that he thought they might enjoy and spotted a guitar leaning against one of the older guy's knee.

"Alright, can I borrow your guitar then." The man with the guitar looked surprised but handed the instrument over to Duo. He took it carefully and folded himself onto the ground with the guitar in his lap.

"Be careful with her, she's been more loyal to me than any woman ever has." The group laughed, and Duo did too though he felt like he was being watched and it made him a little uncomfortable.

"What woman, that guitar's the only thing you've ever had your hands on." The group laughed even harder. Duo liked these guys, they reminded him of Howard's pit crew. Jokers to the very end, one of them could be dying and he'd still be cracking momma jokes.

"Well, you made a wise decision we were getting kind of sick of this old man's songs. The same five over and over, I think he believes he's playing new ones for us but that's just his Alzheimer's." There was another burst of laughter and somebody punched the guitar owner jokingly in the arm.

Duo sat down next to Heero and played a few notes. He was impressed the guitar was perfectly tuned. There was silence in the group as they all waited for Duo to start. It was eerie and it made the poor boy nervous but he went ahead anyway, ignoring his jitters. The song he played started out real low, it was almost hard to hear because the notes were so low. And the first few verses were sung in a low mournful voice, but it was hauntingly beautiful and Heero was instantly entranced. Duo had never openly sang in front of him before, he knew that it was a very private thing for the boy so he was curious why all of sudden tonight he was willing to sing in front of perfect strangers. He didn't dwell on it long though, he just felt honored to be one of the privileged few who got to hear that amazing voice.

"Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes. Right in tune with the dark side of the moon." Heero drew his eyes away from Duo's beautiful form hunched over the guitar, his pale skin softly glowing in the moonlight, to look at the men in the circle. They were all so entranced by the magnetically mysterious creature known as Duo Maxwell that they didn't even notice him looking at them. Zechs seemed particularly enthralled with Duo's singing, and Heero couldn't help the bit of jealousy that flared up. After all he had known Duo longer and yet this total stranger was getting to hear the boy sing without all the effort Heero had been putting in to gain the boy's trust. It just seemed kind of unfair to him. Duo would definitely get to be in the circle, he knew that for sure. The boy's song continued a little higher but still in just as morose of a tone.

"Someone, someone could tell me. Where I belong. Be calm, be brave, it'll be okay." There was a pause when Duo didn't sing and he just plated the deep notes of his sad yet optimistic song. Heero watched as skillful hands held out long notes, it was truly amazing, Duo didn't even seem to be concentrating on the guitar and yet he was playing it perfectly. Heero looked up to the boy's face and saw that distant look in his eyes again, he wanted so desperately to know what went through Duo's head during these times.

"Voices calling from a yellow road." Duo was hitting powerful notes now and holding them, his voice really was something only heaven could have created. The other men seemed to think so too. Heero caught them all with wistful looks on their faces and maybe even a little moisture in their eyes. He couldn't blame them though, Duo looked so sad as he played his song it just tore at your heart.

"To tell you the truth, I've said it before. Tomorrow I start in a new direction. I know I've been half-asleep I'm never doing that again. I look straight at what's coming ahead and soon it's gonna' change in a new direction. Every night as I'm fallin' asleep, those words repeated in my head." Duo finished his song on a more upbeat note, good thing too some of the guys looked like they were going to break down. When Duo hit his last note there was nothing but silence from the rest of the group. After a few moments Duo looked up, he thought he had done okay but maybe they didn't like his song choice. He looked around the group they were all just staring at him like they were zombies. It was really creping him out, but Heero looked pleased. Heero was actually smiling at him, he smiled back shyly but the silence from the rest of the group made him not nearly as confident as he usually was. Heero cleared his throat and the guys seemed to snap back to life.

"So, I guess he's in." Heero said in his usual monotone, with that smug confidence that only Heero had. A few nodded in quick agreement, for others it took a few minutes for them to wake up totally but they were all nodding before long. Even the old shopkeeper gave in and smiled at Duo. The braided boy had a huge grin on his face, obviously happy that the group had accepted him.

After that it was like they had always been a part of this group, the guys were telling stories and jokes and making fun of each other. Duo felt at home with these men, if he had ever had a home. Home to Duo wasn't a place it was just wherever you were when you felt safe. Right now home was here, actually he had felt at home a lot around Heero. There was just something about the boy's presence that made you feel like nothing in the world could defeat you, and Duo liked feeling immune to the damn curse that had been haunting him. The moon was high in the air when the group finally got tired, and one by one they pulled out thick blankets and sleeping bags from the back packs that were piled all around the circle.

"Are you guys gonna' sleep out here?" Duo asked when he saw the sleeping bags being pulled out and unzipped. He thought it was a great, but definitely crazy. There were a whole lot of things that could go wrong sleeping on a beach, but these guys seemed like they did it all the time. At least they all seemed prepared for it anyway.

"You bet, and as new members of the group, you two will spending the night out here with us." The old man told them, Duo didn't find the idea extremely appealing but he thought it would be a great experience if nothing else.

"It's tradition so you can't back out now." Said Zechs with a friendly wink. Duo couldn't wait to tell Quatre that he had met Treize's boyfriend, he was sure the blonde would blush something awful when he did.

"If you want we can open up my sleeping bag and you can sleep with me Duo. There's plenty of room, really." Heero's eyes narrowed and he had to catch himself from growling at the surfer. So much for being taken, this guy was totally coming on to Duo. Well he certainly wasn't going to stand for that, after he and Duo had been through in the past few days, some pretty boy wasn't gonna' just step in. But before Heero could open his mouth, the old man interrupted, almost like he had known that Heero was about to say something not too friendly to the longhaired blonde.

"Yes Zechs, I'm sure you would love that but I believe I have a spare sleeping bag in the shop that those two can borrow." The first thought through both the boys' minds was 'Just one?' Duo almost said something, but it was too late the old man had already started his journey back to his shop. Zechs looked a little disappointed as he crawled into his sleeping bag, but a minute later he was back to being talkative.

"Hey Duo, how about a lullaby to put these old men to sleep." There was a round of assent and Duo really felt he had no choice. Heero almost smiled at him, and handed him the guitar. He picked a few chords, trying to think of a song, but there was only one in his head. 'What the hell,' he though, "it's about time I let it go, and Heero's here.' He wasn't sure where that last thought came from, or why it mattered that Heero was here. All he knew was that he wanted Heero to hear this song, that he would never be free of the past if he didn't do this. So he started to play the song he had kept hidden from the world for so many years, their special song and her favorite. Heero recognized those first few notes right away, and wanted Duo to stop. For some reason he didn't want anyone else to hear that song from Duo, it was like they were invading on something only he and Duo shared even though Duo didn't know that they had shared it. It seemed that Duo too felt like this song was just a bit too personal, because he stopped playing before he got to any of the words. The men looked at him curiously, but Duo didn't start playing again. Luckily he was saved by the old man's return.

"Are you guys bugging this poor boy again? Just let him get some sleep." And that was it. Duo knew why he liked the old man so much. He hadn't been able to put his finger on it before. It was why he felt so at home here like he nothing could wrong. That was how father Maxwell had always made him feel, like he could take on the world and this old man's kind eyes reminded him of the gentle reverend. He handed the spare sleeping bag and a couple of quilts to Heero who began making a large bed on that beach shore. Duo helped and soon everyone was settled in for a night under the stars. There were a few more stories about beach accidents and bad dates while the group drifted off to sleep one by one. Pretty soon only Heero and Duo were left awake. They stayed on opposite sides of the sleeping bag and each one had their own quilt, but Heero still felt nervous about sleeping this close to the boy again. It seemed Duo didn't have the same misgivings about being so close to one another, Heero could already hear gentle snores coming from his rival's side of the makeshift bed. Soon enough Heero too drifted to sleep listening to the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore and he briefly wondered how high the morning tide came in.

They had spent all day wandering in and out of each other's garages. Never getting close to the other's car though, there was still a competition going on after all. When they returned to the hotel some time that evening there was still no sign of either Heero or Duo. Quatre was a little worried but as long as the two were together he felt Duo would be safe. Quatre was being awfully quiet though and it made Trowa a little nervous.

"So tell me about Duo, he's your best friend right?" Trowa was trying to divert the boy's attention from the fact that his friend was missing by having him remember all the good stuff. He opened the door to his room figuring being in the room where the missing boy usually slept would just make Quatre more upset.

"What drew you to him?" Trowa asked as they he turned on the lights and sat on the couch, patting the spot next to him for Quatre to come sit in.

"Are you kidding, you've met Duo right? How could anyone not be drawn to that? It was never an attraction mind you, just refreshing." Quatre forgot that he had already told Trowa that he and Duo had only ever been friends. It was such a habit to defend their relationship though. "I had been enrolled into a private school for gifted children until then, but I convinced my father that there was much more to learn about life than what books told you. He agreed and I was enrolled into a public school."

"You were at a school for the gifted?" Trowa was trying hard not to laugh. Quatre was rich but if you knew him you knew he hated being treated like he was rich. He hated all the stuffy rules and silly traditions. That could be a big reason why he liked Duo so much. Duo treated everyone like a human being no matter what their background was like. He was probably this way because he got judged so much as a kid. Trowa knew he had been an orphan and was amazed at how well adapted to life the boy was.

"Don't laugh, after a few comments from my teachers my father had me tested when I was six years old for signs of being 'gifted.' Well two weeks later the results came back and…" Trowa knew it made him uncomfortable to say.

"You were a child genius." Quatre just shrugged, he really hated that term. It wasn't because he was born gifted or anything, he just had more access to a resources than most children and he happened to love to learn. Duo loved learning too, but it was more because books had been so hard to come by when he was younger. He knew the Bible in and out though.

"I hate that phrase. There's so much more to being smart than being able to remember what's in a book. Duo's a thousand times smarter than me, the things he thinks of are really amazing and what's more he never learned any of it from a book, he never went to college. Take the car for example, he comes up with all kinds of interesting renovations, and they're purely his ideas all he needs me for is a little bit of the math." Quatre held so much respect for Duo that it really made you want to get to know the boy a lot better. Duo was able to hide all things about himself, the boy was so humble. Maybe it was because he grew up in a church or maybe, well there were a lot of things in Duo's past that made it so he couldn't even recognize all the amazing qualities in himself but he appreciated everyone else's.

"You two are really remarkable." Quatre was shaking his head before Trowa could even get the sentence out.

"I'm just a product of remarkable circumstances, Duo's been to Hell and back more times than anyone ever should and he's overcome it all." Quatre got very quiet, Trowa wasn't sure if he should push this anymore but he was really curious about all these hints to Duo's past Quatre kept dropping.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked and Quatre looked at him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. His heart felt like it was trying to twist out of his chest Quatre looked so miserable all of a sudden.

Heero wasn't sure why, but halfway through the night he woke up to a sky of brilliant stars. For a second he thought his fears had been confirmed and the morning tide had woken him up, but he discovered his reason when he turned his head and saw Duo's side of the sleeping bag was empty. A little ways behind him he could here the soft sounds of a guitar and a low beautiful voice singing a familiar song. He sat up and looked behind him, Duo was there near the edge of the shore playing the borrowed guitar. He was playing the song he almost started for the group before they went to bed. The song Heero had heard him sing when he had stumbled across his garage the first time he had ever seen Duo. That wonderful melody that had hooked him on the beautiful boy that he had never been able to forget.

"The dawn is breaking, a light shining through. You're barely waking and I'm tangled up in you." Duo sang with a small sad smile on his face. "I'm open, you're closed. Where I follow you'll go. I worry I won't see your face light up again." Heero stood up and wrapped his quilt around his freezing body. It was a wonder Duo's hands weren't too numb to play in this icy sea breeze. He grabbed Duo's blanket and walked slowly over to the other boy, allowing him to continue with his song.

"I'm quiet you know, you make the first impression." Heero remembered that part, he had sung it to Duo in the club. That part of the song sounded like something he would say. That's when he realized why he liked the song so much, opposites falling in love. Before he had even met Duo he had been in love with him, with everything about him, and this song told their story if they were to ever have a story.

"I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind." Heero stood silently behind Duo, unwilling to interrupt the boy's entrancing voice.

"Even the best fall down sometimes. Even the stars refuse to shine." Heero took one step closer to listen to Duo as he finished his song.

"Out of the doubt that fills my mind. I somehow find, you and I collide." Duo stopped playing and just stared out into the sea. Heero closed the last the few feet between them and draped the quilt over Duo's shoulders. He sat down next to the braided boy and they sat there in silence for a long time. Finally Duo couldn't take it anymore, and he broke the silence like he usually ended up doing when things got too quiet for his taste.

"I didn't know anyone was awake. I didn't mean to disturb you." He said as he dug his toes into the sand and wrapped the quilt tighter around his body.

"You didn't disturb me, I've always been a light sleeper." Heero responded, unsure if he should try to talk about the song with Duo or not. If Duo was open enough to sing in front of strangers than maybe he would finally be able to talk, and Heero decided that he couldn't pass up that chance.

"That's a good song." Duo kind of nodded his head. Maybe he wasn't that up for a conversation, Heero thought. But before Heero gave up totally Duo spoke again.

"It's my favorite, holds a lot of memories. I don't usually sing it in front of other people." Heero nodded, he really did understand what Duo felt. There were a lot of things about his past that he kept bottled up.

"I have to admit something Duo. I've heard you sing it before." Duo looked up at Heero, he was very puzzled by this statement. He turned to stare down at the sand again, unsure of how to respond to this information.

"How can that be? The race was the first time we had ever spoken, and I don't go around singing it in public." Heero wasn't sure how he was going to explain this the truth was a little weird and improbable. But if anything Duo deserved to always be told the truth.

"It was during that open circuit where up and coming drivers were all allowed to enter. The one where the winner would get sponsorship, it was around the time you started racing, and I did too. I was given the wrong number for my pit crew area and wandered into yours instead. You were in your garage, alone. You had a guitar and you were playing that song. I've never been able to forget you since, and I've been waiting for a chance to get to hear you sing that song again." Heero took a deep breath, it seemed swimming for an entire day barely winded him, but talking at length got him totally out of breath.

"I guess you got your chance, I've gotten real careless. I don't even know why it mattered that I kept it to myself." Duo shook his head, the anchor wrapped around his heart was tightening, but at the same time talking to Heero made it feel like it was so tight it was starting to slip off. Would he finally feel free from his past if he spilled his guts to Heero? Was there anything that could make his sins easier to bear? Should he even be allowed to be free from his past, or were his sins worthy of a lifetime of suffering? He sure felt like he had been suffering for a dozen lifetimes.

"I do." Duo snapped his head toward Heero, curious about what he was going to say. "Because it's special to you, and you didn't want to taint it by letting other people in on it." Duo snorted and that small sad smile was on his face again, but it was more hopeful for the future than stuck in the past. So after all this time a man he had met two days ago knew him better than he knew himself.

"It was her favorite song, she used to sing it all the time. When she was cleaning, dusting the pews, or out in the garden. I would come home from school and hear her humming it down the block. I would sneak up behind her and burst into song, she usually screamed and hit me with whatever was within reach. One time, I think she had seen me coming, she was in the church dusting the figures and singing that song. She had a beautiful voice but kept it to herself mostly, saying that it was a gift from God so he was the only fan she needed. Sometimes she sang in the choir, but she always blended in, and refused to sing alone because she thought it was selfish or prideful. I was proud of her though, for so many things." A breeze blew by and Duo closed his eyes and leaned into it as if he could hear the distant sound of the woman's voice being carried on it.

"Anyway, while she was dusting I snuck up on her but before I could do anything she turned around and grabbed me. The next thing I knew we were waltzing around the pews. She loved to dance too, said dancing just made people happy." Duo paused for a long time, Heero was amazed that he had shared so much with him already. He was afraid that his curiosity would never be sated when it came to Duo.

"Who was she?" He asked his voice was quiet though, as if he were scared that Duo might realize what he was doing and stop talking.

"Sister Helen, the only mother I have ever known." Duo eyes started to glaze over and he focused hard on the moon. Did it hold memories for him? Did he see her face when he looked into that ghostly white orb? Heero didn't know but it appeared tonight he might get answers to a lot of his questions. He didn't even have to ask the questions Duo seemed to want to purge his conscious and Heero was glad it was him he was talking to.

"My parents died when I was young, I don't even know how it happened. I don't have any memories of them, sometimes I wake up at night and I think I've had a dream about them but I can't remember it. I was with a gang for a short while after their death, I don't know why authorities had never found me or how I ended up with them but they became my family. I don't know how long how long it was until Father Maxwell caught me stealing that day and brought me back to his church, I actually don't know how old I am. Once I got into the church, Father Maxwell just sort of guessed my age but I don't think he was too far off. Even after the church adopted me I still snuck out to see the gang but it got less frequent as time went on. When I was eight a plague hit our city, the church got a large supply of the vaccine because it was a place where a lot of people could get access. I was one of the first who got the shot in the church, I hated every minute of it and told all the guys how horrible it was." A bit of moisture formed in the corner of his eyes, his breathing was harsh and erratic.

Heero scooted a little closer to him, but he was nervous about actually putting an arm around the boy. He wasn't sure what kind of effect it would have but the boy looked like he was about to break down, like years of bottled up anguish and self torture were about to burst inside him. So Heero went for it unable to keep his distance from the heart aching sight of the man he was growing to really care for. At first it seemed like the braided boy hadn't even noticed Heero's hand, but then, all of a sudden the beautiful drying boy just collapsed into his arms.

"They died, they all died. Solo held out the longest but eventually it claimed him too and it's all my fault. I told them the shot hurt, they didn't get one because of me and they died." Heero held the boy tightly to him, he had no idea Duo had this kind of guilt on his conscious. "Solo's where I got my name, I told him he'd never be alone again." Duo was so quiet Heero could barely hear him. His voice had the deathly chill of man who had lost everything.

"Duo you were a child. You didn't know what was going to happen so you can't blame yourself." Duo didn't move or say anything he just sat there in Heero's arms.

"That's not all Heero. Heero you have to know, you have to know what it means to get close to me. I'm Shinigami for a reason and it has nothing to do with racing." Duo's watery eyes looked straight into Heero's and he noticed that the braided boy hadn't let a single tear fall.

"When I was sixteen Quatre and I had taken the same history course, it was an AP course and really demanding. The day before the AP exam we stayed up all night at his house studying for it. When I got out the principal called me to his office. I was afraid that they thought I had cheated, that school always was surprised when someone like me did well. Poor orphans from the streets didn't generally get straight A's. God I was so wrong, I wish it had been something stupid like that. I was so worried about my grade and then he told me that the church had burned down and there were no survivors." Duo's voice cracked and it was a long time before he spoke again. Heero just held him, unsure of what comfort he could really offer the boy.

"If I had been there, if I hadn't left for school so early to take that stupid test. I could have saved them, they were old they couldn't escape on their own but I could have gotten them out alive." His voice became so distant and hollow that it almost frightened Heero.

"You listen to me Duo Maxwell. It was not your fault. None of this was your fault. And I think these people who really cared about you would be heart broken to know that their deaths had become such a burden to you. They would want you to enjoy life the way you were meant to. You're strong because of what has happened in your past, that doesn't make it any easier but your making it a lot worse by carrying their deaths like a noose tightening around your throat. They loved you and they would want you to be happy Duo, not forever alone and miserable." Duo was quiet for a long time, his grip tightening around Heero's body. They stayed like that for a long time, curled against each other in the fading moonlight. Duo's grip began to relax and Heero looked down at the boy to discover that it was because the boy had fallen asleep.

Heero picked up his sleeping beauty and carried him back over to their sleeping bag. He laid the boy down but didn't go far and he covered them with both the quilts. He pulled Duo closer to him and held him tightly as he tried to drift to sleep. He looked down once more, unable to deny himself another glance at the beautiful boy's sleeping form, and noticed a wet trail down the side of Duo's cheek. So the boy had finally been able to let a tear fall. Heero leaned down and kissed the wet trail then fell asleep stroking Duo's braid soothingly. He lay awake for a while thinking about all that Duo had been through, you would never guess it by the boy's attitude toward life that he had one of the hardest pasts Heero had ever heard of. He had never before seen strength like Duo's, he wasn't even that strong, not even close. He finally fell drifted off amazed by the sleeping boy next to him.

They awoke the next morning when the sky was still gray and the sun had barely begun to rise. Heero woke up to the smell of the ocean breeze and a warm weight on his chest. He opened his eyes to that gorgeous stormy beach sky and looked down to find none other than Duo Maxwell tangled with him, the boy's beautiful braided head rested square in the middle of his bare chest. He lifted his hand to find it wrapped firmly around that elegant braid, his other hand was pinned to his side by Duo's arm that he had draped across Heero's body. Heero set the braid down gently and stroked Duo's hair a few times. He was enjoying being so close to the boy in the cool morning air without it being awkward. So he stayed like that for a while relaxing with the smelt of salt water coming off of Duo's mane, the fell of the boy's breaths fluttering against his exposed skin, and the amazing feeling of Duo's bare back under his fingertips. After a few minutes though he knew he had to start the process of extricating himself. He noticed that the other guys were already awake and surfing the swells in the stormy weather. Heero tried to move carefully but the second he did Duo snapped awake. He stared up at Heero like he was the lasting he had expected to see. There was a pause where the two just stared at each other and Heero noticed that lighting must be perfect because those eyes looked violet again.

"We have to stop meeting like this." Duo said after a while and smiled at Heero as he tried to pull his legs free from the twisted mass of quilts. Heero helped and soon they were free and had neatly folded up their bed. They stood on the sand watching the guys surf like the pros they were, even Heero was impressed by the old shopkeeper's moves.

"Guess we should head back. I'm sure somebody's noticed our absence." Duo chuckled at first but then a look of horror crossed his face.

"Oh my God, Quatre. Quatre will be worried sick." Duo turned and grabbed Heero's arm dragging up the path back to the where the car waited for them.

"Thanks for everything!" Duo shouted over his shoulder to the bunch of old surfers and waved. Heero waved too and the old men shouted their goodbyes to the two newest members of the circle. Duo shoved Heero into the driver's side of the car then quickly got into the passenger's.

"We have to get back quick. Quatre's gonna' kill me." Heero started the engine and switched gears, all the while shaking his head at his hyperactive companion.

"Alright, alright don't get your swim trunks in a bunch." Duo paused and looked at Heero.

"Did you just say that? Did Heero Yuy really say that? I must be delirious from all the salt water." Heero turned onto paved road and began the journey home, refusing to respond to Duo's allegations. Truth was Duo was starting to rub off on him.

They got back to the hotel in remarkably good time. Of course Heero _was_ a professional racecar driver, so maybe it wasn't that remarkable. They walked through the hotel lobby in their swim trunks just like they had on their way out, and Duo waved at anyone who looked their way. The elevator let them off on their floor and they stepped out but were unsure of what to do next. Did they go to separate rooms this time? Did they want to meet up later? What was going on with them, were these dates or just hanging out? But for all the boy's confusion they were both sure of one thing. They had to see each other again, and the sooner the better.

"So I'm gonna' go grab a quick shower. You wanna' get lunch later?" Heero half smiled, he was glad it was Duo who asked to see him later. After last night he wasn't sure of Duo wanted to hang out anymore. He thought maybe it would be awkward now, but it wasn't. If anything it made them all the more close. They were both amazed at how close they had become in such a short time. It scared Duo, but now Duo thought that maybe he was scared for reasons other than some childhood curse.

"Lunch sounds good. I'll probably be ready first so whenever you are just come down and get me." Heero said but he didn't head towards his door, he really wasn't sure what to do. If this were a date was he supposed to kiss Duo now? Would Duo back away? But before Heero could debate that topic anymore Duo was already on the move toward his door.

"So I'll se you in a bit?" The braided enigma shouted back as he head toward his room. 'So much for that.' Heero thought and he nodded and waved to Duo before turning to go to his own apartment. He was closer to the elevator so it wasn't long before he reached his door and he was pleased to see Duo give him one last glance before the longhaired boy shut his door. Heero snorted at himself, he was acting like such a lovesick teenage girl it was pathetic. But he couldn't help it, Duo rattled him so much that his mask was just evaporating before his eyes and he couldn't stop. He didn't think he'd want to if could. He opened his door with a satisfied smirk on his face and was greeted with one of the few things that put him instantly back in full defensive mode. All shields in place and mask fully restored.

"Hello Heero Yuy."

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Wow, I really blabbered on up at the top. Well I have a little more to do. I just had to say thank you to everyone who reviesed the last chapter, CrossHunt-s,English Foxlette, Stargazer9, Lun4r-flow3r,you guys were really wonderful. Two-Bit Wannabe - Wow 5:30 in the morning, does the world exist that early? Anyway I am honored and I apologize to have kept you waiting. And Silver Cateyes what would I ever do without you. I think I'm falling in love with you hehe. Well you know how I love to babble, but alas I must go for full metal alchemist is coming on and Ed and Roy make such a cute couple. Catch ya next chapter! 


	10. Good Day in Hell

Hello everbody! Well I'm still going, I just can't seem to stop even though I should but hell I always put off school work until the last minute anyway so I might as well do something sort of useful in between instead sitting like a blob or napping. Anyway the title is a song by the eagles about a one night stand with a girl that's going to send this guy to hell. So the one night stand part doesn't apply but hellish woman certianly do. So I don't think there are really any warnings yet, there might be a little swearing cuz I swear like a sailor and it just kinda transfers over...there's a little Relena bashing cough a lot of Relena bashing...a little angst but nothing good old Quatre can't fix so be prepared the the next chapter will have a sap warning. Okay I'll save the rest of my babbling for the end.

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These Boots Were Made for Racing

Good Day in Hell

"Hello Heero Yuy." Came an eerie lilting voice from the center of his hotel room where now stood the young blonde he had met in the bar.

"What are you doing here?" Heero asked. He was pretty sure that he hadn't invited the blonde leech to his room at any point during that night. In fact he was positive that he hadn't even told her where he was staying.

"You didn't call me and it's been over a day. I got worried." She sang sweetly but there was something possessive in the gleam of her cornflower blue eyes, and Heero didn't enjoy feeling like somebody's dinner. She stood from the couch and walked over slowly toward Heero, he wasn't sure but he thought she was trying to be seductive. He backed away a little but realized he was already practically pushing himself through the door. He really regretted closing it when he walked in.

"I must have lost your number." Heero said trying to be polite but the unmistakable glare and the way he stood so tensely told otherwise. The look that crossed her face told him that she had never felt so insulted in her life. He got the feeling that nobody ever turned this girl down. She was probably the daughter of some rich businessman or probably a politician. That would explain her pitiful attempts the other night to explain current bills being passed in congress to him. She was such a fake human being that he wondered if _she_ even knew who she was. She did however have the grace of a politician's daughter. She quickly recovered and was smiling brightly at him before he could fully place the spark that flashed in her eye.

"Well that's alright, I'll leave right next to your phone so you can't lose it." And she pulled out what looked like a business card and slid the corner of it under his phone. He watched the strange young woman do all this and then it hit him that she was just some girl he danced with once and now she was standing in his hotel room.

"What are you doing here?" He asked with a little suspicion seeping into his cold monotone voice and she noticed it but kept on smiling with her perfectly shaped iridescently white teeth surrounded by bright pink lip gloss. She was covered from head to toe in different shades of pink again. He wondered if everything she had ever owned in her life was pink, her diapers, her first bike, her car, her dog.

"I came to make sure your feeling alright and see if you wanted to go to lunch." She smiled even wider, and it frightened him just a little, as she walked over to stand right in front of him in what was supposed to be a seductive pose. All it did for him was make him want her to leave as quickly as possible. She leaned in a little and the iciness of his glare doubled, even the dense blonde picked up on it and backed away slightly.

"I'm sorry I have a previous engagement." His cold tones and glares didn't seem to put a damper in this girl's pink bubbly world. She did however let a very sour look pass over her features briefly when he shot her down. Again probably something she had never before experienced.

"Oh! Well I suppose we'll just have to get together some other time." She said in the most dignified way she could muster though Heero could see the anger seething in the blonde's eyes. She was so fake and so very spoiled that he almost pitied her. When she had to learn to survive on her own, no daddy to do it all for her, he knew she was going to have a hard time. Her whole little world was going to burst in a devastating way. He opened the door for her and though she was still insulted she walked out very politely. He decided that he should be polite to the poor girl in return. He followed her out and walked her to the elevator doors. She stood in front of the shiny metal doors for a moment before she turned back to Heero with her smile back in place.

"I do so hope I will see you again Heero Yuy. I find you very interesting." She stepped over to him and before he could respond she hugged him tightly. He thought it was so odd that he barely knew this woman and she was throwing herself at him. He knew that some people recognized his face from his racing career but he didn't have die-hard fans or anything like what Duo had. Strange women didn't just walk up to him and do things like this. He looked around for some help and what saw was the most heart-braking sight in the world. Duo stood in the hallway staring at the blonde clinging to Heero's neck, he was holding a pair of swim trunks limply in his hand. He just stood there and watched while the blonde turned away and got into the elevator she waved to Heero before she left but the short haired boy didn't even see it. His deep cobalt blue eyes had locked with a pair of hurt violet ones.

"I brought you shorts back." He held them out to Heero with a slightly shaky hand. Heero walked over and took them his fingers briefly intertwining with Duo's. The longhaired driver let his hand fall loosely to his side and just stood there. It was odd to have Duo standing there completely silent it made Heero want to think of something to say, anything as long as it didn't have to do with the blonde.

"I didn't know you'd be busy." Duo's meek voice was devastating to Heero's ears, it was even worse than the silent Duo.

"I'm not…I mean I wasn't. She just showed up out of nowhere, I don't even know her." Duo just looked like he was going to hit Heero in the face. Heero didn't understand why this always happened every time he got a little passed Duo's mask. Every time he tore down a few of Duo's walls something would happen and he would have to start earning the boy's trust all over again.

"Yeah right Heero. She's some kind of super spy who staked you out to find where you live and broke in when she saw you leaving yesterday and has been waiting for you ever since to administer her deadly hug attack. Come on Heero get real." Duo was fuming. He didn't understand why this always happened when he tried to trust someone. There was just no one in this world, except Quatre, that he could open up to without getting hurt.

"I'm not going to pretend I know how she got in there, but everyone knows where the racers stay she could have asked the clerk downstairs for me." Heero tried to explain his situation to Duo, but he could see that it wasn't going to do him any good. Duo had already made up his mind about what had happened and no matter what Heero said he wasn't going to get Duo's trust back. It had to be Duo this time, Duo had to decide for himself that Heero was worth trusting.

"If you had a date with her you should have just told me. I feel bad that I took up some of your precious time with her." Duo spat out a lot more angrily than he had intended. He didn't want Heero to see him vulnerable.

"Duo I don't know how she got in there." Heero pleaded with Duo, he wasn't ready to loose everything he had gained with Duo. They were so close to having a solid relationship, but they weren't there yet it was still fragile. He had gotten past Duo's mask but he hadn't proven himself worthy of the boy's trust yet, and this new situation was the last thing he needed to happen.

"I can't believe you lied. You said you couldn't stand her. Yeah I remember her from the club, I know she gave you her number. What did you do call her right when you got here? Why didn't you just tell me the truth? I don't need to be babied. If you liked her then you liked her. Nothing you I can do about it." It was Duo's increasingly casual tone that scared Heero the most. Duo was putting his mask firmly back into place. He was acting like he didn't care and soon Heero would never be able to break through that mask again. He had to do something drastic.

"I'm so sick of this Duo. Why can't you just trust me, is it really that hard? Every time I reach out to you I just get pushed away. Damn it Duo every step I take forward you take two back. I'm tired of it." Heero didn't know if it was a good idea or bad idea to push Duo's insecurities like that but he had to do something. He knew it had snapped something inside Duo too, he just wasn't sure if it was realization or pure hatred.

"So I'm too much more you to handle?" Yep, pure hatred had won. "Well if you hurry I bet you could catch her."

Duo began to walk away quickly mumbling about him being the one to reach out to Heero and this is what he got in return. "Serves me right, I can't believe I told him about the gang." Duo roughly jammed his key into his door and pushed it open with so much force it hit the wall and bounced.

"Damn it Duo, stop walking away from me!" Heero yelled down the hall, but all he got in response was Duo's door being slammed.

"So what happened this time?" Trowa's voice drifted calmly from the elevators, Heero was surprised to see the couple there but even more surprised that he hadn't noticed their presence. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with Quatre's puppy eyes or Trowa's lectures.

Heero growled and stormed off into his room, slamming the door behind him with enough force to rival Duo's. The couple was left standing in the aftermath of the clash of racing titans and couldn't help themselves from rolling their eyes.

"I'll take the angry Asian, and you take the pissed off American." Trowa sighed just slightly to his boyfriend and Quatre felt that the situation was almost humorous.

"And we'll meet again somewhere in the middle." Quatre said shaking his head as he went on his way to Duo and his hotel room.

"Hopefully with all our limbs still attached." Trowa commented off-handily as he too turned to make his way over to the room he shared with Heero. Quatre smiled at his boyfriend's retreating form, few people had ever understood him like Trowa could. Even Duo didn't know about his most intimate thoughts like he was now able to share with Trowa.

Quatre walked into Duo's room without bothering to knock, he just pulled out his key and let himself in. He found the boy throwing stuff around and slamming drawers just fuming and mumbling bitter words under his breath. He sighed and watched his best friend for a few minutes before he decided to interrupt the destructive tornado force of Duo Maxwell.

"Duo what on earth could you be so mad about?" Duo paused briefly to glare at the blonde and it almost rivaled one of Heero Yuy's best. Duo continued throwing around clothes like he couldn't get them far enough away from him.

"Quatre I want to go out. I don't care where I just want out of this building." Quatre watched with mild amusement as Duo ran back and forth changing his clothes and throwing his whole closet around the room. He seemed to be looking for something but Quatre had more important issues to discuss.

"Want to tell me why you and I are about to pull a Thelma and Louise?" Duo stopped ripping the room apart and threw himself onto the big bed he and Quatre shared. The blonde walked over and dropped down on the bed next Duo, they both put their hands behind their heads and stared at the white ceiling.

"He's right, I push people away. I even push you away sometimes Quatre. I'm scared of trusting people, of letting them trust me, of letting them get close. I'm so afraid I'm going to screw up and they're going to get hurt that I take the easy way out and just distance myself." Duo sighed and kept staring at the wall, Quatre knew that this was far from over but the first step had been taken Duo was admitting that his worries were unrealistic.

"I saw a girl hug him and I think it's the end of the world. Why am I so messed up? I know I'm being stupid. I know that all my greatest fears are just stupid things left over from my childhood. I need to get over this unreasonable fear. Quatre you're still alive right, no one's going to die just because of some childhood invention to cope with all of tragedy in my life." Quatre smiled sadly and turned to face his teammate and best friend. Duo turned his head to face his childhood friend and Quatre saw that he was so bare. Heero must have done something to shatter the boy's mask because there was nothing left of it. It was just Duo, Quatre hadn't seen that face in years.

"No Duo, no one will die if you're near them. And I feel just fine despite all the practical jokes you've played on me." They both laughed a little and Duo turned back to the ceiling, the blankness of it was a bit of a comfort to him.

"When the gang died I blamed myself. When the church…after the accident I gave myself rules to follow so I wouldn't get hurt. But Q, no matter how much I tell myself it's just some dumb thing I made up when I was a kid to save my sanity, so I could function in life. No matter how much I tell myself all this I'm still scared." Duo smiled ruefully at his blank ceiling, now it was Quatre's turn to sigh.

"Duo you're scared of more than just some silly curse you made up as a kid. You've hid yourself for so long that you're afraid to let someone new in, letting them see the real you. You're scared it's going it hurt, and I mean you're scared it's going to hurt you." Quatre rubbed a hand along his best friends arm in a comforting way. Duo patted the blonde but continued staring at the ceiling. Quatre was a little worried about the distant expression on Duo's face, he knew the boy had a lot of demons to com to terms with but he was a strong boy who had been through a lot and survived with most of his sanity intact.

"I know Quatre. I think that I've almost been using my childhood fears as a safety net. If things got too complicated or too deep for me then I would just back out and tell myself that I was doing it for the other person. To protect them." Duo looked down at himself then right back to the ceiling. "I'm tired of running Quatre. I'm tired of trying to outrun my past. It's about time that I let it pass me don't you think?" Duo smiled and it was small but brilliant. It made Quatre smile too he knew his friend would be ok.

"So how about you go tell Heero you're done running?" Quatre asked, he knew Duo was still fragile but he also knew how strong the boy was and he was counting on that strength right now. There was a pause but Duo slowly nodded his head and Quatre smiled big at him.

"You know, this room would look so much better painted blue." Duo commented as he lugged himself off of the bed. Quatre stared at him funny for a second then he remembered Duo had been tearing apart the room just a few moments ago.

"Duo what were you looking for?" Quatre asked hoping that Duo would continue this amazing openness.

"Oh…my cross. I just sort of wanted it." Quatre smiled faintly and nodded. He stood up and went over to Duo's sock drawer. He slid the drawer completely out of the dresser grabbing a small shiny box with carvings on it that Duo didn't even remember putting in there. He opened the box and pulled out a beautiful silver chain with a simple silver cross dangling from the end of it. Engraved on the back of the cross were the names of everyone who had died in Duo's life. Duo stared at it for a second. He usually kept it hidden so he wouldn't be tempted to get it out and start reliving his past over and over again, but today he felt string enough to wear it without the breakdown that usually occurred. Quatre handed it to him and he put it on himself smiling the entire time, and it felt good to have that comforting weight around his neck instead of the huge weight he had been carrying on his shoulders all these years.

"Heero what are you doing" Trowa asked watching his friend storm through the apartment throwing clothes everywhere and mumbling resentments. Trowa watched with calm amusement from the entryway as Heero yanked the phone of the jack and ripped a small piece of paper out from under it.

"If I'm going to be accused of something I might as well have done it." Heero replied angrily as he roughly dialed the number that was on the card that Relena had left for him.

"Heero you're being irrational, that's very unlike you." Heero just glared daggers at his friend and refused to put down the phone. Pretty soon a cheery and totally fake little voice answered the other line.

"Relena Peacecraft speaking." Heero suddenly doubted everything he was doing but he was so angry that he just threw caution to the wind and didn't care if this was just a huge mistake that would only make things worse.

"Relena? This is Heero we spoke a little while ago in my room." Heero said and cursed himself for being such an idiot. Heero couldn't help but feeling like he was in a business meeting whenever the girl spoke though, like she required the up most formality and respect if you wanted a response.

"Of course I remember you. Did I forget something?" Her falsely sweet tenor grated on his nerves but it was too late now.

"No, I was just hoping that your invitation to lunch was still open." Heero stated, it sounded like he might have intended it to be a question but Heero wasn't very good at adding affect to his voice. Relena couldn't honestly tell if he was really interested in lunch with her, but it didn't matter she would accept.

"Of course it is Heero, say twelve thirty we meet in the lobby of your hotel?" That gave him twenty minutes. Good he wanted to get out of this place and the sooner the better.

"Sounds perfect I'll see you then." And in his haste to get his angry revenge on Duo he rudely snapped the phone back onto the receiver without a goodbye or acknowledgement of any kind. Relena was a little stunned by how rude the boy was after all Jay had always told her that he had raised the young man to have the best manners in any situation. Speaking of Jay, she decided she should probably call in with the news of her successful entrapment of Heero Yuy.

"Well that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen someone do." Trowa commented from where he stood in the middle of the room. Heero just continued running around the room changing his outfit from his beach swim trunks to something he could go out into public in.

"Shut up Trowa, I don't need this right now." Heero grabbed his dress shoes and a pair of black dress socks to match his black pants.

"Since I know you wont tell me what happened I'll just give a generic lecture to think about as you go on a date with a strange girl you don't even like just to get back at Duo." Damn Trowa caught on quick. Heero just glared even harder at the boy who he knew was about to make him fell immensely guilty and he just didn't want to deal with it right now. He was already regretting the call but it was too late now.

"I know you're afraid that you're going to fail this boy. I know that even deeper still you're afraid that he's going to just keep on rejecting you no matter how close you get. And I know that even though you don't always realize it, you aren't exactly the most understanding guy in the world and you have never apologized. Now I'm not saying you were in the wrong on this one, all I'm saying is that if there was a misunderstanding it's much more likely that you just blew up and got angry than tried to apologize and comfort Duo." Trowa watched as his friend's actions slowed down and smiled when Heero's shoulders sagged.

"It doesn't matter Trowa, if I can't help him now than how will I ever be any good for him. If both of us are scared and just keep pushing each other away how will we ever be together? Opposites are supposed to attract but all we seem to do is try our best to repel the other and then when there are moments that we do come together something in this world tears us apart. It so much work Trowa." Heero sighed collapsing back on to his and Trowa's bed.

"But that's what makes it worth it. Heero Yuy you have never like to chose the easy path in life. What makes Duo any different, why isn't he worth the effort?" Heero just shook his head.

"He deserves someone who can comfort him Trowa, I could never offer him what he needs." Trowa was already shaking his head before the words were out of the boy's mouth. He couldn't believe that this was Heero Yuy, or had Heero always had these insecurities and just hid them well. Had Duo done something to blast Heero's perfect mask to pieces?

"How do you know until you try?" Trowa admonished, his friend just refused to think clearly. This was so obviously a bad idea but Heero was dead set on letting Duo know that he had to make a move, and Heero wouldn't wait forever, that now he wouldn't listen to a word Trowa was saying.

"I have tried, I just got done trying my best and then this morning all this happens. Why can't he just trust me?" Heero told his friend with a strong hint of frustration in his voice that made Trowa wonder just what exactly had happened yesterday and last night.

"Well this isn't the way to earn his trust." Trowa threw back at him and Heero knew he was right, but at the moment he was so angry that his usually very premeditative mind was on the fritz. He was acting on pure emotion, a long time ago someone had told him that was the only way to live but he had never understood what that meant. Jay had taught him that in order to get anywhere in life you had to have a plan and plans would never go wrong. Heero had a hard time believing in fate and that if you follow your emotions everything will work out in the end. Right now though he didn't care he just knew that Duo had infuriated him and now he wanted to…well he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Maybe to hurt Duo back, maybe to make Duo realize that he wasn't going to wait forever, or maybe it was to just prove to himself that somebody wanted him even if it was a blonde ditz.

"Don't you think I know that? But somebody has to do something drastic or that boy will never let anyone near him. He has to choose to trust me and he has to want to come to me. If pushing his buttons is what it takes to get him to, then so be it. You know you've gotten a lot more talkative lately." And with that Heero Yuy stormed out the door to go meet his fake date and see what the future held for him. Trowa just shrugged and watched his best friend make the biggest mistake of his life hoping that there would some kind of life lesson at the end of all this.

Heero slammed the door behind him and made a direct path for the elevator he stood impatiently and pressed the button for the ground floor at least three times. He stood there staring at the elevator doors as if sheer will power could force them to open when Duo stepped out into the hall. The longhaired driver saw Heero waiting for the elevator and knew that it was now or never because if he let the boy leave without talking to him he would never gather the courage to do it again. He took a long, deep breath and lat it out slowly as he made his way over to where Heero Yuy stood. Duo stood still for a few minutes just staring at the man who in a matter of days had turned his world upside down and he realized that his world had been toppled because he wanted Heero Yuy to topple it. That it wasn't some kind of fate he was trying to fight, he was fighting himself. He wanted Heero Yuy, he wanted him more than he had wanted anything in his life.

"Hey Heero." Duo called out and the boy turned to him quickly he looked almost surprised to see Duo standing there. It took the Asian teen a few minutes to respond.

"What are you doing here?" Duo looked affronted, he was reaching out again and he felt like he was only getting shot down. This was not going as he had planned. He wasn't going to give up though Quatre had convinced him to do his best and he wasn't going to let Quatre down. He took another deep breath and pushed along.

"You looked very dressed up." He tried to say it with sincerity and curiosity but Heero just looked angry still. He wasn't going to give Duo an inch here, the boy just wasn't going to forgive and forget was he?

"Yeah well I have a lunch date." Heero said coldly as though they had never met before or like they hated each other. Duo couldn't believe that after all that had happened and he was here putting himself on the line but Heero was going to give him the cold shoulder.

"I thought we were going to meet for lunch." Duo asked still trying to be the better man but it was getting harder. Heero wasn't exactly making it easy for him either with all the iciness in his voice and he even refused to meet Duo's eyes.

"Relena called and I decided to go with her." That cold voice answered and Duo finally snapped. He had tried to be nice, he had tried to be forgiving, he had tried to reach back out to the boy and restore their great friendship but Heero was just going to be an ass and there was no getting around it. His anger rose to it's boiling point and he knew he was going to blow and there was no stopping it.

"Relena…the dumb ass blonde from the club, the one that was just hanging all over you, the one you don't like!" Duo yelled at the boy that had managed to capture his heart and was now ripping it out of his chest and searing it in a frying pan. How could Heero do this to him after all that he had shared of himself. Had last night mean nothing to Heero, because it had been a big damn deal to Duo. Heero stared at him, still not meeting his eyes, and he noticed a shiny silver cross dangling from Duo's neck. He had never seen the boy where anything religious, he knew now that the boy had grown up in a church but he didn't think Duo was a religious man. Then again there were a lot of things he still didn't know about Duo Maxwell.

"Well she doesn't think I'm a contagious disease, so I reconsidered." Heero raised his voice in return, not by much but it wasn't the perfect monotone that he had been using. Duo was floored, how could he think that Duo thought of him like that. Until last night sure Duo had been pulling away but he had had his reasons. He thought Heero had understood that.

"I hope you two are very happy!" Duo yelled right back and stormed away from Heero he was so sickened by the other driver at the moment that he couldn't even look at him. Heero was also so angry that he had forgotten that he was waiting for the elevator and it had long ago opened and shut its doors. He cursed under his breath and started jamming the bottom floor button again. He was so angry and guilty that all he wanted to do was run after Duo and say he was sorry a thousand times but his pride held him still. Duo ran to the end of the hall and brushed past Quatre who had come out when the yelling started. The longhaired boy slammed the door to his room and flung himself on the couch he was so angry but what made him even more angry was that if Heero had ran in there at that moment and apologized he would forgive him.

"Big mistake." Quatre said to Heero as he walked across the hall to frustrated Asian teen waiting impatiently for the elevator. Heero turned fiercely to look at the blonde and glared with all his might but Quatre didn't even miss a step.

"Oh, and why's that." Heero spat out with anger seeping into every word. Quatre just stared annoyed at the boy before him. He knew that he and Duo would be great together but that didn't mean his protective hackles hadn't been raised for his best friend's feelings. Heero had hurt the boy and Quatre wasn't too happy with that.

"He was just coming to apologize for what he's put you through and tell you how he feels." Quatre said in a very irritated voice and Heero's face fell. The dark haired boy stopped frowning and the crease in his eyebrows disappeared, he looked lost for a second before his face turned totally neutral. He stared unseeing at the silver doors of the elevator for a long time before he very slowly turned to face Quatre.

"I'm such an ass." He said with such a sense of doom that Quatre couldn't help but feel a little bad for the mean way he had spoke to the guy, but he couldn't help it Duo was upset and it always made him want to strike out at whoever had done it. Duo's done so much for him in the past to protect him and make him feel wanted and he had never been able to really repay his best friend. But he did get to growl at the occasional boy who hit on his friend and ended up ticking him off.

"I've been trying to tell you that for the past half hour." Trowa's strong voice surprised Quatre and even Heero spun a little to look at his friend. Trowa chuckled and walked over to where his boyfriend and best friend stood. The tension in the air was so thick Trowa could almost taste it.

"But it's done and over with and now we have to decide what to do about." Trowa was always rational even in the few situations where Heero lost his cool, Trowa was always ready with a cool head and usually a good solution. Of course he usually chose to keep quiet and let Heero flounder for a bit first.

"You really do talk a lot more." Heero said and Trowa just shrugged his shoulders giving his boyfriend a quick mischievous smile that was not lost on Heero Yuy. It seemed that Heero wasn't the only one who had found someone that could break through masks and layers.

"So he does have feelings for me?" That sentence coming from Heero Yuy was the strangest thing Trowa had ever heard in his life and obviously Quatre thought it was a very bizarre sight too because the blonde burst out laughing hysterically. It took him a few minutes to calm down and Heero was staring at him as though he were mad.

"Honestly, you two are so blind I'm almost scared of what you're relationship would be like. If we can get you two together that is." The blonde struggled to say between giggles. Trowa looked over at his best friend and they shared a look at the blonde's expense in that secret eye language that only they understood.

"What do I do now?" Heero asked Trowa because he was so used to the tall boy having the answer on the rare occasions that he couldn't think of one.

"Cancel the date with the bimbo." Trowa said with that rare humor of his that few people saw but all who did loved.

"Thank you Trowa for stating the obvious…for the first time since I've known you." Heero stared strangely at his best friend somewhat surprised by all the humorous responses he was getting. "I mean about Duo, how do I get him to ever trust me again." He asked back in his near monotone but there was still a hint of emotion in there that he hadn't had before he met Duo. Trowa almost smiled at the race driver and Quatre just all out beamed at the boy. The blonde was impressed with how much understanding Heero had of his friend, it was trust that Duo had the hardest time giving to others and Quatre was glad that Heero was seeking it.

"His heart trusts you, we just need to get his brain to catch up. And actually Wufei and I have been conspiring and we've come up with a pretty good plan." Heero was surprised that it was the blonde that came up with a solution and not Trowa, but then again there must be something very special about this young man for Trowa to have taken to him.

"I guess I should go cancel the date with the ditz." Heero said and then swore when he noticed the elevator doors had already opened and shut again. Quatre laughed at him and even Trowa had to snort but he regained his composure quickly when Heero glared at him.

"That sounds like a good idea." Quatre said reassuringly to the young driver but there was still a little humor in it. "You and Trowa take off for the afternoon, Trowa will explain to you what's going to happen. I'll go get Duo. See you at eight Trowa." Trowa nodded and Quatre took off at a light jog down the hall to his and Duo's room. He gave a quick thumbs-up before he checked the door and, finding it unlocked, allowed himself in shutting the door behind him. Trowa turned back to Heero and pushed the button for the ground floor and Heero glared at the stupid elevator doors refusing to miss it this time. The doors slid open after a few minutes and Heero stepped in right away with an almost smiling Trowa following right behind him.

"So what is this grand-master plan of Quatre's?" Heero asked but Trowa just shook his head.

"Call the bimbo first." Heero chuckled lightly and waited for the elevator doors to open then he made his way across the busy lobby to a line of pay phone booths. He opened one of the empty ones and grabbed the shiny black receiver putting a couple of coins in at the same time. He dragged the crumpled business card that the blonde had given him out of his pocket and dialed the numbers for the second time that day in a span of an hour. A few rings later the blonde's voice answered in that nails-on-a-chalkboard high screeching voice. Heero cringed but plowed on anyway trying his best to be polite, after all she wasn't a bad person just really annoying.

"Heero! To what do I owe this pleasure, we don't meet for a few more minutes right?" She sang to him sweetly, so sweet that it made him a little nauseous.

"I know this is really short notice, but I'm afraid I have to cancel our lunch this afternoon." He tried to sound sincerely disappointed but he really just wanted to get off the phone, he couldn't stand talking to her for very long.

"Oh, well I won't say I'm not a little let down, but I understand. Did a big emergency happen at the track?" She was just so nice and naïve. He hated to be the one to burst her pink bubble so he decided to go along with it.

"Yeah, an emergency happened." He said since he considered what happened with Duo an emergency. Though Relena probably didn't want to hear that he was canceling because he had to do something extraordinary to win back the trust of the only person he had ever had any kind of romantic feelings for.

"We'll just have to reschedule, you call me later and maybe we could catch dinner or go out tomorrow." Her voice was so well planned, liked an actor. There was a perfect balance of disappointment and hope that made him feel guilty for ditching her and want to agree to a date just to make up for her hurt.

"Yeah, I have to go now." His usual monotone clicking back into place as it usually did when he was in an uncomfortable position. That was the one thing that he had never been able to shake from his days with Dr. Jay. He hung up and stepped out of the booth joining Trowa at the front door. The cinnamon haired boy smiled just slightly at his friend and they left the hotel to follow a crazy plan cooked up by a crazy blonde and a scary ass Chinese man. Heero was a little less than hopeful that this would all work out.

"Jay?" Relena said to her cell phone as she sat in the back of her pink limo and watched as Heero Yuy left his hotel with a taller man beside him. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and pressed her little phone closer to her ear to hear the old man on the other line.

"Yeah I just got off the phone with him, he cancelled." She could tell he was frowning on the other line and she would be getting a cut in pay _if_ she were allowed to keep her job. She had to say that this was the first job she actually wanted to keep Heero was a gorgeous young man.

"Did he say why?" Came the ancient yet sharp tongue of the old scientist that had raised and molded Heero into the athlete he was today. With technology unheard of and chemical engineering deemed unholy he had created the child known as Heero Yuy from just a regular baby in a rundown orphanage.

"No, he lied. But I think that racer with the long hair, the one that danced with him in the club, he may be apart of this if not the reason." She informed the old doctor. She knew she was scraping for information, but she really needed this job. Jay had never paid higher for information on anyone else, but he had a big interest in this boy. She had heard rumors that Heero was the only one of Jay's projects that had escaped with their lives and Jay seemed desperate to get him back. She supposed that if Heero wanted to he had enough reasons and evidence to put the old doctor in jail for a very long time. There was a loud sigh from the other end and she knew that Jay had either gotten very frustrated or had heard something he could use and was now thinking of how.

"Get me Hirde." He said after a while and Relena knew he was talking to his secretary, a cute boy with dirty blonde hair that suited Jay's tastes, she shuttered. Hirde was an assassin for hire and she was the best at her job. She was ruthless and an amazing actress, she got into people's lives and minds and gained their trust then stabbed them in the back in cold blood. She's your best friend one minute, your midnight assassin the next. Her calling card was that her murders were so brilliantly done that they always looked like suicides. That's why she got into your mind first so the reason for suicide was not only believable by the cops but friends and family too. She was the best and Jay always got the best.

"I'm sure she'd be more than happy to do this for you, sir." Relena said, she knew Hirde loved working for Jay because he paid the best and gave her the most interesting targets. Relena had to admit she'd hate to see the cute Asian boy die but this was her job.

"She just got back from a job in New York, I'll have her on the target's trail by this afternoon." Relena told her boss hoping that she was doing what he wanted so she wouldn't get fired or worse. She liked Heero, he was cute and mysterious, but this was business and she would love whomever Jay paid her to love.

"No, I want you to stay on the target. What is the name of the longhaired young man?" There was something disturbing in the man's voice when he asked that question. Relena actually hesitated at that murderous growl, but she was trying to keep her paycheck and her life. And she liked the thought that she would get to continue following Heero without interference.

"Duo Maxwell, sir." She finally said and the old man let out a sinister chuckle.

"Good girl. Keep following Heero and try to get closer to him, don't worry about this Maxwell boy getting in your way anymore." His menacing old voice cackled over the phone and Relena cringed, sometimes she hated her job but at least she would now have Heero all to herself without that braided idiot getting between them. She wanted Heero Yuy the first time she saw her target at the track and she always got what she wanted. She was going to follow that gorgeous ass until he was in love with her and now no one could stop her.

"Thank you sir, I will do my best for you." She heard him make a noise of acceptance and she couldn't help but think that he sounded a lot like a mafia boss just then. She smiled grimly feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the arrangement and yet she couldn't put her finger on why. She supposed it could be that she always got what she wanted because she was the best and killing Duo Maxwell to get Heero Yuy to love her seemed like cheating, but it didn't bother her enough to say anything to Jay. And what did she care, she would get Heero Yuy and Duo would be put out of his miserable existence. She laughed maniacally in her mind.

"See that you do Relena, your pay check depends on it." She was about to say something but there was a loud click on the other end signaling to her that Jay had hung up his phone. She cursed him under her breath and closed her shiny pink cell phone running her pink manicured finger over the cover.

"Pargan, the target is leaving the parking lot. You know what to do." The old driver nodded to his young master. He hated what Relena had become but he had promised her father before he died that he would protect the girl with his life. He turned the key and once again set out to follow the young man that she had taken such an interest in. Maybe this boy could help her finally get back to who she used to be, a happy spoiled little girl who loved and adored her father.

Jay sat for a moment at his desk with his lips pursed tight and his chin resting on his folded hands. He was debating whether or not Heero's life was worth all this, but the boy was his most successful experiment he was the only one whose body hadn't rejected the serums. Heero's body had actually accepted all the alterations to it and had mutated wonderfully with all the chemicals. He was everything Jay had hoped for, he was the perfect human, but Jay needed him back to perform experiments to figure out how to perfect the serums so they could be patented and sold. He new the military would pay a pretty penny for all his strength, agility, and cognition increasing chemical formulas.

"Michael, once you get Hirde on the phone I want you to contact Lady Une" A feral grin passed across the old man's tight lips.

"If Relena was right about the Maxwell boy being friends with the Winner son then it won't be long before they pay a visit to Treize. Tell her that I have a way that she can pay her debt to me and get back at the man who had stolen her heart then tossed it aside for a blonde surfer." There was a pause on the other line of the communicator, he knew going with Lady Une was risk but she was the only one that could help him get his assassin close to that attractive young driver. His dry cackle echoed on the speakerphone and Michael couldn't repress the cold shutter that passed down his spine. The old man was still perplexed at how that longhaired loud mouth could catch the attention of his perfect creation. How it was possible that Heero was anything but annoyed or disgusted by a boy of such inferiority was beyond him. The doctor thought about it for a second and decided that when he got Heero back into the labs he would have to test the boy's sexual weaknesses. 'Yes' he thought with a disgusting grin on his face, 'that will be interesting.'

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Okay so sorry about all the grammer issues, not really my strong point, but what did you think? A little bit of a twist eh? So I took Relena the stalker to a more literal thing, she was pretty damn good at it in the show she might as well get paid for her efforts. Yep Jay is evil, I just can't help it he has all the makings of an architypal mad scientist but they made him a good guy...sort of. So Gundam Wing doesn't really draw a line between good and bad that's what made it interesting right? Perhaps I won't draw a very clear line either, Relena's a little evil yet you pity her a little right? When Pargan talks? Ok so it's hard to pity Relena but you will learn al little more about her soon...not too much she doesn't have a huge role just one key part but I'm not saying what it is. I thank everyone who takes the time to review and I hope I'm not dissapointing you. next chapter of The Cursed No More is coming up soon, that one is so fun to plan and write.


	11. Tangled

So it's been more than a month since I updated this and it's short and filled with grammar problems and missing words. I really hate this chapter and it's only half done. It has none of the sap that I was totally going to do, I have to wait until next time because if I try to write it now it'll take another month. Well that's my rant, I hate the end of the school year with all my finals and final projects. But at least I got something out right? I've totally not been able read all my favorite stories or review for them, I'm such a slacker. So this is it, I don't like and I don't expect you to. Don't worry though we get right back to Heero-Duo interaction next time, and I'll try not to take a freaking month to update it. The title is a song by Maroon 5, if anybody wanted to know. So uhm...enjoy!

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These Boots Were Made for Racing

Tangled

Duo stretched out on the couch, he had to force himself to not go back out the door and yell at Heero a little more, the big fat jerk. He tried to clear his mind but images of Heero and that blonde making out over a cup of coffee in some non descript hotel lobby kept plaguing his mind. He stared out the window on the other side of the room, memories of the day on the beach floating back to his mind. All the times he had got Heero practically grinning, how close they had been while Heero showed him how to surf, all the jokes the songs the secrets shared. Why did Heero have to go and ruin the best day he had ever had? Well that wasn't entirely true Heero wasn't totally to blame, that damn blonde was. He sighed, that wasn't true either if he hadn't overreacted when he saw that girl in the hallway Heero wouldn't be trying to get back at him like this. Yeah he wasn't blind, knew why Heero was going out with the girl and even though he was glad that it wasn't because he was madly in love with her that still didn't change the fact that Heero _was_ going out with her. He noticed a cheerful little bluebird land on the windowsill and start singing his little heart out in the beautiful morning sun. Duo picked up a magazine off the coffee table, rolled it up, and threw it at the window scaring the bluebird so bad it forgot how to fly for a second. 'Teach you to be so damn happy.' Duo thought as he watched the bird fly away crookedly, to which the bird replied telepathically 'As soon as I see you get in your car I'm crapping on it,' but since Duo couldn't talk to animals he just went back to moodily staring out the window.

When Quatre came in and saw the sour mood Duo was in he cautiously closed the door to the room they shared and slowly approached the braided mechanic sitting across the couch with his arms crossed defensively in front of his chest. Quatre paused when he reached the couch and Duo didn't even look up. The blonde pushed the sullen boy's feet to the side so he could sit down and he heard Duo let out a deep sigh. Yep, Heero Yuy was in deep shit. A few feet away Quatre noticed a stray magazine lying spread out on the floor under the window.

"Well I tried Quatre, guess I was better off before. See, I was right all along. Never let your guard down people are just waiting to stab you in the back." Duo unfolded his arms and swung his legs off the couch. Quatre could sense that if he let Duo leave now then he would never be able to coax the boy back out of his shell. So he put his plan into action right away.

"Duo I think you need a break from all this. Clear your head and stuff. I'm going to go see the owner of that club we went to if you want to come along. He has one of the best pool tables I have ever seen and he's never been beaten. Want to put him in his place?" Quatre was grasping at limbs he knew that Duo wouldn't go unless he wanted to no matter how enticing Quatre made it sound. Duo had a mind of his own and never did anything just because someone else was doing it. Duo was silent for a long time and Quatre started to think that he was never going to answer him.

"I can't believe he's going to go out with her after all that fight he put up about not liking her." Duo said and Quatre sighed. He had hoped to distract the boy from thinking about all that. But he forgot that Duo was not one to be sidetracked easily, especially when something was bothering him.

"I happen to know that he cancelled the date, so can we go out now?" Quatre impatiently tapped his foot as he said this and Duo finally caught on to what the blonde was trying to do. But instead of being his usual evil self and continuing to be hopelessly absorbed in his topic choice, he gave in and let Quatre distract him from all these annoying thoughts.

"Yeah let's go meet your friend, he sounds interesting."

Somewhere in the far corners of space and time, also known as the city park, Heero and Trowa met Wufei and the plans that would alter the rest of their lives were put into action.

Treize's house was as extravagant and large as you would expect it to be based on his club. Duo gawked awkwardly at all the marble statues and huge windows. The garden was fantastic, at least what he could see of it through the gate. Quatre was still trying to figure out which button he pressed on the intercom that would open the gate. He had been at it for nearly fifteen minutes and nothing had even creaked a little. Duo however was having a very relaxing time taking in the scenery and enjoying the curses stringing from the cute little blonde's mouth. After a few minutes a voice cracked over the intercom and Quatre nearly jumped out of his seatbelt.

"There's a password to open the gate, but if you tell me your business here I may be able to buzz you in." Quatre smiled at Duo, it was one of those 'I feel like an idiot' grins that only Quatre could make look cute.

"My name is Quatre Rebarba Winner. I'm here to see Mr. Kushrenada." They waited a few seconds while static cracked over the intercom. Then the voice of the old man was back.

"Mr. Winner, well that's a horse of a different color. Sorry I've always wanted to say that and we don't get many visitors that aren't the press." Duo was cracking up in his seat, he knew he liked this guy Treize's boyfriend, but he got the very distinct feeling that he was going to really enjoy the company of Treize himself too. And if the guy was a jerk then at least he would get to wander around in a freakin' awesome house. The gates swung open and Quatre drove Duo's car onto a long driveway that lead up to the front of the enormous estate. An old man met them at the marble steps that lead up to a huge front door. Duo assumed this was the old man from the intercom.

"Hey buddy nice digs, eh?" The old man smiled politely at Duo.

"Yes, and it's even better when you don't have to pay for, of course I do have to scrub the toilets so I suppose there's a bit of a trade off." Duo chuckled but the old man kept a perfectly straight face. Duo wanted to laugh even harder but the lack of joviality from the rest of his company and he was holding back as best as he could.

"Mr. Winner and Mr. Maxwell I assume." Duo was shocked that the old dude knew his name, but then again it seemed that this Treize guy was aware that they would dropping by so maybe Quatre had called him up or something. Quatre nodded to the old man and he smiled then cleared his throat.

"Master Kushrenada will be expecting you in the billiards room as per requested. If there's anything you need please ask, I live to serve." The old man turned towards the front door and Duo was left on the marble porch clutching his sides almost in pain trying to stop the laughter. The old man was so serious, but the stuff he said was so priceless. He opened the huge door easily enough and they all walked inside. Duo whistled at the expansive hallway and expensive decorations. There was a huge marble staircase to their left but they passed it and headed to the back.

"Welcome to Oz and the Emerald City. We ran out of the precious stones so next week we're painting the marble green. Follow me young masters." Duo gripped his sides and tried not to burst out laughing. How did Quatre keep a straight face? The blonde must have been here before and was used to it. Even better though, how did the butler keep a straight face while he said all this stuff? The butler suddenly turned around and stared right at him, he snapped up and tried his best to stop snickering. God he was failing miserably, maybe it wasn't too obvious.

"I'm sorry I'm not quite right. Anyway we're here and Master Treize is waiting for you." The butler opened the door to a large room, but it wasn't the type of room Duo was expecting at all. He and Quatre walked into an enormous green room with plants and huge windows. It was filled with sunlight and it was beautiful. The butler bowed and shut the door but Duo hardly noticed the old man's retreat he was so shocked by the unusual room. He finally noticed the pool table and his mouth dropped. It was a jungle themed iron and brass piece of art. The legs twisted like squat palm trees and metal palm leafs folded back around the pockets. There were intricate jungle scenes with bronze animals carved in the sides. The chairs were leather bound and had elephant heads on the front of each arm with their trunks traveling down the length of the chair. There was even a little bar in the far corner of the room that had the same bronze jungle look. It was very artistic, Duo was sure he saw a pattern of the juxtaposition of elements. Like the old meets new of the nightclub and now the steel engineering meets natural beauty of this room. Quatre smacked Duo's arm and the braided boy stopped gawking at the room as the sound of deep sophisticated chuckle reached his ears. Duo suddenly noticed that there were quite a few people in the room, how he had missed that was anyone's guess. He was just so taken aback by the amazing atmosphere in this room. A tall elegant man with well-groomed light brown hair and stylish beach clothes stepped out from beside a really tall beach plant. A woman and a girl were standing over on the other side of the room near another set of leather chairs. The woman looked severe with her hair pulled into twin tight buns and a small frown lines permanently etched into her features. The girl next to her was the complete opposite. She had a big smile on her face and waved to the boys when they looked at her. Her short wild hair was died an interesting shade of purple but it looked good on her. Duo thought she looked cool but he couldn't place the slight unease he felt. Maybe it was the ritzy house or the frowning woman next to her, or maybe it was that she was smiling just a little too wide even though the smile it didn't really reach her eyes.

"Quatre Winner, it has been too long. I trust the family is well." Treize smiled warmly and shook the young blonde's hand then turned to Duo and did the same.

"Treize this is my best friend and world class race car driver Duo Maxwell." Quatre introduced politely. Eck, small talk. Not one of Duo's favorite things in the world.

"Of course you are, I recognized you right when you walked in. How could I not with that practically legendary hair." Duo smiled nervously and wrapped the end of his braid around his fingers.

"I would like to introduce you to Lady Une. She and I used to run Oz Corp together, but the company and I had a difference in opinions and now I co-own the nightclub, but Quatre already knows all this." It was Quatre's turn to smile nervously, he was sometimes shocked by the way Treize just put everything out in the open and always had. He wasn't anything like the normal secretive businessman. Duo smiled, in his own way Treize was just as unusual as his butler. He looked like he would be a stuffy aristocrat, and his tone of voice was reminiscent of the apathetic noble class of older days. But the words that came out in that smooth tone were nothing like those that would be expected from a stuffy noble. He spoke his mind and Duo respected that.

"And this is my coworker Hirde, she's young but she has great talent." There was a smile on the young girls face when Une said this that sent chills down Duo's spine. She winked at Duo and he groaned internally, he hated it when flirty girls were thrust at him with no warning. He thought Quatre was taking him here to hang out with that this nightclub owner. Not some scary woman and her horny assistant.

"Duo, Quatre told me you came here to beat me at pool on my own table. I must tell you now that you have no chance." Treize's cool confidence added to his impressive presence. That's what the guy had: presence. You couldn't help but feel in awe of him and you couldn't understand why. But nothing intimidated Duo Maxwell, except the occasional puppy eye from Quatre turned up to full power. The braided driver just smirked his cocky grin and grabbed a pool cue from the wall.

"Never underestimate your opponent." Duo quipped, and Treize smiled ambiguously at the boy.

"Wise advice." The older gentlemen acquiesced and he too selected a cue from the collection on the wall. "Let's make this a team game, Lady would you like to be my partner." The scary woman with glasses looked like she had been insulted and if Duo didn't already dislike both the girls he would have then.

"I would love to be on your team Duo." Piped up the spunky purple haired girl standing next to the wicked witch. If this was Dorothy then Duo wished she'd just click her giddy little heels and fly home. She was cute and all but man did she give him the creeps, there was something almost sinister in the gleam in her eyes. He smiled politely at the girl and she grabbed a cue off the wall then raced over to him.

"Looks like it's you and me then Quatre. I'm sure if we work together we can be victorious, just as we were in getting me out of my contract with Oz. I still can't believe you went into engineering when you have such an uncanny gift for talking circles around the heads of the business world." Treize spoke freely to the group of strangers in his house. Duo's head snapped up at the familiar company name, but he kept his mouth shut. This man either had a lot of power in his corner or a lot of blind confidence. Duo wasn't sure which option he preferred.

"Yeah Q can manipulate the best of them, but he's even better at manipulating complex machinery. And I totally didn't mean that in a sexual way, well not completely anyway." Duo chuckled at the beet red color that filled Quatre's face.

"Duo!" The blonde admonished, but it only made Duo laugh harder. Even Treize couldn't hold back a small snickered when he watched the two interact. Very few could get Quatre flustered, the only one he knew that could do that was a certain beautiful surfer. The club owner turned to Duo with a small smile on his lips.

"You know you remind of . . ."

"If you say me I'll have to smack you, he's cute but he's got nothing on my calves." Came a seductively deep voice from the doorway where stood the tall blonde beach boy that Duo had met the night before. He looked exactly the same except a few more articles of clothing. That luxurious blonde mane fell wildly around him

"Hey, I have kick ass calves." Duo stuck his tongue out at the newest guest.

"Zechs, you finally came." Treize smiled warmly at the blonde in a way that made Duo's stomach clench with loneliness. The man look at the blonde with the deepest love Duo had ever seen in someone's eyes. Duo looked around the room, most people were smiling at the newcomer, but Lady Une was glaring at him with more malice than Duo could have thought possible for one person to have.

And it made him boil over with rage.

"Sorry, that crusty old surfer had me cleaning up his shop just 'cuz I walked in with some sand on my feet." They were so different and yet so perfect for each other. This must be why Treize had such an affinity for designs involving opposing forces that mixed perfectly. For some reason Duo thought of Heero and he realized that he wasn't really mad at the boy and he was tired of being alone. For a second he wanted to just leave the mansion and go find Heero, but he put those thoughts aside and said hello to his old friend from the beach.

"Well then, we were about to have a game of pool but I still seem to be partner-less." Treize said in mock irritation. Lady Une's frown only deepened and Duo wondered why the woman didn't have deep set wrinkles from all the scowling she did. Duo just realized what a strange crowd he had gotten to be friends with. Who would have guessed that a street rat without a name would grow up to be friends with the richest heir on the planet, the ex-CEO of the largest company in the U.S. and a beach bum that was way to obsessed with hair. He must have recently become a collector of oddities or something because this had to be the most eclectic group ever to be gathered in one room.

"Well I'm out, I've never been good at this game." Quatre said to everyone but Duo's surprise. Duo knew that Quatre was secretly a very competitive and that the blonde knew his chances at beating the young driver were small. Not that Duo was full of himself but he and the blonde had played many times and it just wasn't pretty. Poor Quatre was just happy when he got to hit a ball.

"Zechs, will you do me the honor?" Treize extended his pool cue to Zechs and the blonde looked at it like it was the most phallic gesture, but he didn't look offended. On the contrary he winked seductively at his boyfriend while he grabbed the tip of the cue.

"Not until you put a ring on this finger." Zechs smirked and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's waist while he took the pool cue from him. "Oh you mean for the game. Well teaming up with you ought to be better than getting my ass kicked by you." Zechs laughed a little and Treize pulled another cue off the wall.

"And it is such a nice ass, it would be a shame to mar it." Duo joked playfully. Treize smiled as Zechs shook his butt a little while he walked around the pool table.

"Well then, it's settled. Let's get down to business." Treize shook his head at his boyfriend's antics. This was why he loved this man, he had no fear and was always true to himself everyone else be damned.

"Your table, you break." Duo said and he leaned on his cue stick.

"Nonsense you are my guest, you do the honors." Treize offered politely and Zechs nodded his in emphatic agreement.

"Suit yourself." Duo strolled over to the other side of the pool table where most of the balls were gathered. He racked them up with a little flare then strutted back around to line up his cue ball. He took it to the corner, he got more power in his shot from an angle. He cracked his knuckles, popped his neck, leaned way over the table, lined up his shot and sent the fall flying across the table. It hit the perfect triangle of colorful balls at the other end and they scattered. Three went in, two of them were stripes and Duo's gloating smirk said it all. His perfect break had the group in awe, even Treize quirked his finely arched eyebrow. Which was his equivalent of the "Oh shit" that Zechs had just muttered.

"Guess we'll take stripes." Duo said with that cocky smirk firmly in place. Hirde walked over to his side and proudly took hold of his arm smiling proudly up at him. The familiarity with which she treated him was both cool and creepy. He wasn't sure yet if he wanted to befriend the girl or slowly back away then make a run for it. Street instincts from his younger days were firing like Peter Parker's spidey sense. There was something going on though with her that was dulling his senses, he usually had an uncanny judge of character but this girl was sending all kinds of mixed signals and he couldn't tell what she was all about, and that freaked him out.

"Duo's had a bit of practice at this game." Quatre added with a subtle hint of sarcasm.

"You grow up on the streets, you learn to play its games. I made a lot of money hustling people with this. Fed a lot of the guys." Duo walked around and lined up his next shot. He put a little English on the cue and sent it into one of his balls, which ricocheted off another one of his striped balls and went into the side pocket while it sent the one it hit into a corner pocket. Hirde giggled and Zechs' mouth dropped. Treize looked curiously at the braided boy.

"Where are you from?" Treize asked calmly but Duo caught something in the old man's eyes. But he spoke so casually that you almost couldn't stop yourself from spilling your guts like he was your lifelong friend or something. But Duo was a master at using nonchalance as a weapon and he didn't think Treize was dangerous, just curious.

"West Coast, the Valley." Duo's response was curt and Quatre walked over to stand close to Treize. He was trying to give him the signal to back off this topic, but the CEO had never understood how to keep his mouth shut.

"Ah the Valley, one of the areas Oz Corp was responsible for." Treize commented offhandedly and Duo understood the look he had seen in the man's eyes. Guilt.

"Yeah I wasn't going to say anything, but those guys were the main reason that our district was impoverished. That company promised jobs and resources, but they took what they could from us then shut down the factory. It was a chemical factory and a lot of the clean up was done quickly and carelessly when it shut down. A massive outbreak of disease swept our district and we were too poor to get the vaccine. A lot of people died." Duo didn't mean to rub it into the guy's conscience, but he had a feeling that Treize already knew all this anyway. In fact with the way the man had been directing the conversation, Duo wouldn't be surprised if Treize had somehow already known that he was from that district.

"Yes, I remember that incident, I believe I cited it as a prime example when I quit. Though sadly I had many examples to choose from. I believe some of you did get that vaccine though didn't you?" Treize's curiosity had a very human element in it that Duo wouldn't have expected from a businessman. It was as though Duo's answer would affect the man on a personal level.

"Yeah from and anonymous donor." Duo thought he saw relief briefly pass over the man's face, it was well hidden but Duo was an expert at reading people's subtleties. It made him great at poker, he could pick up tells almost immediately.

"It was you?" Duo said it as more of a statement than a question and Treize looked impressed, he was sure that the only person who knew was Zechs, which meant that the boy had been able to guess. This boy would have made a very impressive businessman with that kind of intuition. If he and Quatre had gone in together, Treize was sure they would have been an unstoppable team. Perhaps they could have even given Dr. J and Oz Corp a run for their money.

"Yeah Treize couldn't stand all the nasty shit that went down at that place. I mean that damn company makes up nearly half the world's economy, and it can't bother to take care of its people." Zechs spat out angrily and Duo got the feeling that's the blonde surfer had personal experience with the 'nasty shit' that company did. Whether he had been a victim or another employee was unclear to Duo but there was definitely some kind of personal vendetta.

"And the owner of that company is just damn creepy. Evil scientist, that's what he reminds me of. I wouldn't doubt it if the old guy had an army of genetically engineered children that he sent out to do his bidding." Zechs shivered dramatically.

"Dr. J is a little off his rocker, but mad scientist…I'd believe it." Treize shrugged but something in his eyes told Duo that the guy wasn't just joking. Duo looked around at the rest of the group and decided that every one else was ready to drop the conversation about the company.

Duo lined up his next shot and easily sank another ball, leaving just two more but they were difficult shots. He would either have to use three walls or try a lot of spin to get either shot. It must be the conversation screwing up his focus, it was a pretty touchy subject after all. And that name, Dr. J. Why did that sound so familiar? He was sure he had heard it somewhere before.

"You know I get the feeling that you like to ask questions that you already know the answers to, Mr. Kushrenada. For example, I think you knew exactly where I came from. How?" Duo asked bluntly much to Quatre's frustration, he had brought Duo here to take his mind off his troubled past but it just seem to be in the cards. Treize, on the other hand, only looked even more impressed by the boy. This boy's amazing natural talent was inspirational. He had been putting off his final plan for taking out Oz Corp, but maybe it was about time to seek retribution for the thousands out there with pasts just like Duo's or even worse.

"The way you talk, it's not exactly an accent but it's recognizable if you've spent enough time down there." It was a half cryptic answer that Duo didn't feel like pushing. His past was already becoming too entwined with this that man that he barely even knew. He didn't have to worry about that though since their conversation was in abruptly interrupted.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to make a phone call." Came the chilling voice of Lady Une. Her eyes glowed deadly behind her glasses and her tight hair pulled her eyes making her glare twice as sharp and scary. She walked ramrod straight with very determined footsteps. The door swung closed heavily behind her and Duo cringed. Zechs walked over and patted Duo's shoulder.

"Don't let her get to you." He said smiling ruefully. "She's just a lot of hot air, mind you she can be very frightening, but I'm her main target so you have nothing to fear."

"Why are you her target?" Duo asked and Zechs' smile turned practically lecherous.

"When Treize worked for that horrible company, she was another one of his colleagues. She was madly in love with him. I don't blame her, but he never returned the feelings. She couldn't let go though and when I started at the company she immediately hated me because Treize and I got along so well. Then when we started dating she set her heat seeking missiles on me. But don't worry she's nothing I can't handle." He smiled and winked at the braided racer. Duo smiled back at the blonde surfer. So he had worked for the company, what a change in lifestyles.

"So how about we get back to the game, I've got you right where I want you." Zechs said, he was trying to get off of this grim topic of conversation and Duo was happy to comply.

"You were planning on loosing miserably to me." Duo goaded, he could use a change in subject this was just a little to invasive for his tastes.

"Just take your shot." Zechs said in mock irritation.

"You're funeral." Duo shrugged and walked around the edge of the table looking for the best way to line up this very difficult shot.

Hirde watched Lady Une walk out of the room. The tension in the air had been palpable all afternoon. It made her nervous that the Lady was already reporting to Dr. J. Not to mention that she looked even more pissed off than usual. Was she going to tell him that Hirde wasn't doing her job? But that just wasn't true, she had been studying Duo's every move very closely. She had searched for information about the boy that she could use later on. She already had the fake suicide note planned based on the tiny bit of info the boy had given away about his past. She had also noticed that the boy had a strong competitive spirit and she knew exactly how she could use that to her advantage. Dr. J had told her all about the little blonde's school project. Killing this kid was going to be a walk in the park.

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Okay so boring right? but it's just set up stuff, next chapter sap! Sap galore...muahahaha! Hmm... I'm out of crap to rant about, so review and yell at me and stuff. It'll be good for us all. Theraputic. Man I didn't even use a song in the text that I could explain, oh well guess my ranting is done for now, but I shall return. That was meant to be said in Venture Brothers Dr. Orpheas voice. Okay see ya next chapter.


	12. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Wow it's been a long time, the whole updating format has changed. Ok so I'm working on the next chapter of the cursed but I'm taking classes this summer and they move really fast so that's why it's taking me so long. This chapter is short but sweet I think, so I hope everybody enjoys it. I don't even have time to rant or anything so I'll just let you all read. The title is the latest song form U2, I just thought the first part fit Meiran so great that I had to use it, the rest of the song really doesn't work that well. I guess you could kind of apply it to Heero and Duo since I think the guy in the song is supposed to have just broken up with his girlfriend or vice versa, so the not speaking to eachother fits. I do, however, like how the beginning of the song totally fits with Heero and Duo too but in a little different way. Well looks like I found time to rant anyway. Ok _now_ I'll let you read.

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These Boots Were Made For Racing

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

"J? This is Une reporting." The woman's face was as severe as her tone. She shut the door to one of Treize's many rooms behind her and dialed her employer. She was unhappy with the way things were going and she failed to see how this was going to get back at Treize for her. She wanted the man to suffer intensely and she wasn't satisfied yet. He would feel the pain he caused her when he chose that male slut over her, how could he.

"Lady Une, how is my assassin doing?" J's slimy voice echoed mechanically over the phone.

"Fine, she's gathering information." She said in a sharp frustrated tone.

"Is there something bothering you lady?" J's voice sounded even slimier when he tried to fake sincerity.

"Explain to me how this is supposed to hurt Treize." She was obviously very angry and an angry Une was a dangerous Une. Even J was a little afraid of her when she was pissed off.

"Lady, do not fear, I promise this will all work out to both of our satisfactions. I've done my homework. I know that the pretty boy was a part of Treize's little charity project and when he hears the boy's sob story he'll march right over here with a renewed thirst for vengeance and it _will_ be the last thing he does." J's cold voice sent thrilling shivers down Une's spine. The cruelty that coursed through those words promised something horrible and painful and she almost smiled at that.

Her smile was even more frightening than her scowl.

"He will suffer?" She asked and her voice sounded hopeful and it made J's flesh break out in goose bumps.

"Beyond imagination, my Lady." He said and she almost giggled.

"Good, I will return to my post." She said swiftly and hung up. She walked back to the poolroom with a new bounce in her step and it was hard for her to keep the grin off her face. J sat in his office, his human fingers tapping happily on his metal ones. Everything was falling perfectly into place. Men were so easy to manipulate, they were like marionettes in his puppet show and they were just as dense as their wooden counterparts.

"You will be mine again Heero." J's mechanical eyes gleamed with an intelligent malevolence and if anyone had been sitting in that room and had seen the twisted grin that curled his lips they would have sworn that devil himself was sitting in there with them. "You will be mine."

Une shut the door to the billiard room with her harsh scowl back in place, it was such a quick switch you would almost swear she had split personalities. Almost nobody but Hirde noticed her entry they were all so absorbed in the pool game. It turns out that Zechs had come up with a strategy for beating Duo since his usual way of standing in front of the pocket that was being aimed at and making seductive gestures didn't seem to be working. He remembered the other night and the way the braided boy had interacted with the shorthaired Asian surfer. So he began listing off all of Heero's obvious assets that had been revealed by the wet swimming trunks he had been wearing yesterday and Duo for some reason had missed the complicated shot he had been lining up. Now it was Treize's turn and he was cleaning up the table easily.

"So Duo I heard about the tie." Treize said while he lined up his shot and sunk yet another ball. Duo cringed when the ball fell perfectly into the pocket.

"Yeah I can't believe it." Quatre commented from the window closest to the pool table. He had been shocked when he had heard about the tie, he was almost positive that stuff like that wasn't possible with the high tech instruments race tracks used these days.

"I heard there might have been some foul play." Treize said and paused in his game to see the effects of these words on his present company. Quatre looked shocked then seemed to consider this possibility carefully, Hirde didn't look like she cared much which increased Treize's suspicions about her, Zechs had already heard this, but it was the anger on Duo's face that surprised him. He expected Duo to be surprised at least or even happy that it wasn't really a tie.

"What do you mean?" Duo ground out and it was clear that Treize had better spill everything he knew or he would have a very pissed off racecar driver on his hands.

"Relena, our lovely fellow coworker at Oz Corp, was spotted near the equipment before your specific race. She's a bit of tricky one. She works directly under J, one of his lackeys." Zechs said and Une seemed to stiffen just slightly though it was only noticed by Treize who knew her mannerisms well. He knew what she had come here for. He knew that she meant his death. She, however, didn't know that he knew and that gave him all the advantage he needed.

"Relena works for that twice damned company!" Duo shouted, he didn't know if he should tell Heero this or if that was like tattling. He decided Heero was a big boy and could learn from his own mistakes. Okay so he was being a little childish, but he was still pretty pissed off at his rival. Besides after what Heero had said to him Duo felt he deserved this little bit of payback.

"Yes, and my guess is that she was told to mess with the equipment by Dr J. But what I don't understand is what he wanted from it." Treize said and he quickly glanced at Lady Une but her mask was perfect. But in this case her complete lack of affect actually gave away more than if she had reacted. J had been apart of this and Treize had his theories why but he wasn't willing to give away that kind of personal information about that little boy's relationship with the shrewd old businessman slash evil megalomaniac scientist.

Quatre wanted to ask why, he wanted to know if his friend was in danger but Duo's competitive spirit was not to be reckoned with.

"That means I could have beat Heero and didn't know it! Quatre you have to watch the equipment at the next race. This time I will not loose to him!" Duo's vigorous addiction to winning was all Hirde needed. This was her chance to plant the seed of this boy's demise.

"Well that shouldn't be a problem with the guy that invented the zero system on your team." She said casually and happily as if it were a fact that everyone knew, even though she knew that Quatre had tried desperately to cover up his invention and had, for the most part, succeeded. The blonde started choking when those words fell from the assassin's rose glossed lips. Duo looked worriedly at him and ran over to pat the boy hard on the back. Treize looked shocked at the spunky girl, then a dark shadow passed over his face that had Duo wondering how much the guy knew about whatever this chick was saying. Quatre was just getting himself under control when Duo lost his and had to ask.

"What are you talking about?" Duo asked and she smiled internally. The boy was falling right into her hands. She could see Quatre out of the corner of her eyes waving at her to try and get her to not say anymore, but she plowed on anyway pretending to be oblivious.

"Well Quatre's college project of course. The zero system was sure to win, it could take a person's weaknesses and get rid of them and at the same time hone their strengths. I think his original design was intended to help people get over phobias, like people afraid of giving speeches could become nationally recognized orators. But the military got interested in its applications, they thought it could make armies of men that wouldn't fear death and thus would do anything the military asked of them with no regard to personal safety. They wanted to create some kind of super army that was totally fearless. I heard they had been training children and that they thought Quatre's invention was exactly what they needed to make these kids their super soldiers." Hirde perfectly faked a mixture of horror and disgust on her face. Quatre couldn't speak he was in so much shock. "But the military never got their hands on it, you withdrew it didn't you? And its existence was covered up and denied. Good thing too. You guys could put it to good use though, it could make Duo the perfect racer, you know, sharpen his skills to the point of absolute perfection." Duo stared disbelieving at the girl standing before him. It had to be a lie, sweet Quatre would never create something like that. Another part of him whispered that he could use it, he could become the greatest racer of all time. But it had to be a lie, Quatre wouldn't…yes he would, the look on the blonde's face told him that that's exactly what Quatre had done.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Duo asked and Quatre shied away from him.

"I couldn't Duo, I couldn't let anybody know about it. And I didn't think I could face you if you knew. Duo, somebody got a hold of it and I don't think they wanted it for good reasons because usually you don't steal things unless you're planning to do something wrong with them." Quatre looked so full of guilt that it was painful for Duo to see him like that, he knew his little blonde friend was a good person and thought he was doing a good thing when he came up with the invention.

"It's okay Quatre, it took me a long time to tell you a few things about my past so I understand." Quatre smiled weakly, it really did feel good to get that out in the open with Duo it had been weighing down on him. There was, however, still one thing that was bugging him.

"How did you know about that?" Quatre had to ask, he was sure that almost nobody knew about that invention and the few who did had agreed to be sworn to secrecy.

"The company I work for was a prospective buyer and there are records of the development and potential programs for its use." She stated professionally and Duo felt like it seemed a little rehearsed though he couldn't explain why.

"What potential programs?" Treize asked, he knew exactly what Oz Corp had wanted the invention for. Nobody knew this, but he was well aware that the first child who was trained for combat originated from Oz Corp. And in the boy's last months there, the zero system had been a key in developing his almost inhuman abilities. He turned out to be the only child that had been apart of the program but that was purely because he had escaped before they could collect all the data from his body, and without their 'prototype' the army had decided to pass on the idea so no other children were recruited. At least that was the excuse the army used, actually they had passed because there had been a leak in the military and the press were printing things about their operations that enraged the public. That child had been code named Heero Yuy.

"Oh just stuff to sharpen the partners in charge of the company and the guys managing their stock. Nothing big but very important to a company." She stated and Treize frowned. Zechs was practically growling at the girl but Duo saw none of this he was so focused on the realization that this thing existed.

"Quatre do you still have this thing or a copy of it?" He asked and Quatre looked shocked but then nodded guiltily. Hirde watched the friends with intense interest.

"I guess it's vanity but yes I do, maybe I hoped that someday it could be put to good use." Quatre said sadly as though he now realized that his invention would never have a chance to do the good for the world that he had intended. He even seemed jaded or afraid that nothing he ever did would be able change this world for the better. Duo wondered at that, the Quatre he had grown up with had known that this world could be good and he had been determined to find a way to make it that way.

"Here's your chance Quatre, let me use it." Duo pleaded and before Quatre knew what he was doing he was nodding his head. Maybe if they only used it a little it could really help Duo to win, they would have to do something Heero Yuy was just too good. And if Duo won that would make him happy and his best friend's happiness would make him feel a little better about his invention.

"We'll have to be careful." Duo nodded eagerly, he was going to beat Heero Yuy. Treize frowned just a little more and Zechs looked nervous but neither said anything. Hirde looked over to Lady Une and the severe woman nodded imperceptibly. The shorthaired assassin smiled almost maniacally to herself, she was proud of this kill, one of her best to date.

The game ended with Duo winning, after the zero system incident Treize had missed his next shot and Duo had cleaned up the table with a style and flare that only Duo had. His last few shots had been fantastically complicated involving angles and spin. The atmosphere was rather subdued considering Duo had just defeated a man who was considered undefeatable, but they were all worried about the braided driver. The boys got into Duo's car and Treize patted Duo on the shoulder after he had shaken both the young men's hands.

"Your reward for beating me is that you are welcome in my home at any time don't feel awkward if Quatre isn't with you. How about the next time you race at this track you stay here instead of that hotel." Treize smiled. He had really grown to like the kid in the short while he had known him. Duo smiled back.

They were on the road again before long and Quatre had been very quiet, Duo thought that maybe the boy was rethinking using the zero system. He was wrong though Quatre was actually planning out the rest of he and Trowa's plan to get Heero and Duo in one place where the two could resolve their differences. Wufei had come up with the perfect setting and now he just had to make his act perfect so that even Duo couldn't see through it. He knew Duo was the best at knowing when someone was hiding something so he had to be careful.

"Duo I told Meiran that we would pick her up. Do you mind? She the bus to go out shopping and needs a ride back." Quatre said and he knew that he sounded convincing for that part because that much was true. From now on though it would get harder.

"Why doesn't Wufei pick her up? He's not being a very good boyfriend." Duo commented and looked curiously at Quatre. At least there was no suspicion in his eyes yet.

"She'd take the bus but she intended to buy a lot and didn't want to have keep track of it all on public transportation. Plus Meiran doesn't want Wufei to know about her shopping sprees so we'll pick her up and take her home so she can hide all her stuff before he comes home." Quatre said grinning widely and hopefully convincingly too.

"She's already adjusted to married life, they should just tie the knot and get on with it." They both laughed and Quatre turned down a street that would lead them downtown where Meiran would be waiting for them outside on of the Sherwood Shopping Center. Duo watched the people walking on the streets, couples holding hands and friends laughing with each other. He couldn't pinpoint why but he had this sudden sinking feeling in his gut until he saw Meiran and that cheered him up a lot. The little Chinese girl was drowning in overstuffed shopping bags and yet still managed to jump and wave her arms wildly when she saw Quatre approaching in Duo's car.

"Hey guys great timing." She said as she piled all her stuff in the backseat next to her.

"How could you possibly need all this stuff?" Duo asked her and she just stuck her tongue at him and decided that as punishment for his question she would put on a fashion show and tell him exactly what she needed each item for.

"Is that lingerie Merian?" Duo laughed and pointed at a white lacy thing that had accidentally fallen out. She blushed and shoved it back in the bottom of the bag.

"You gonna' fill out the bust with fruit for Wufei to eat 'cuz those," at this Duo pointed to Meiran's chest, "ain't gonna' do the trick." He laughed and she punched his arm hard

"Ow." Meiran smiled at the boy's pain triumphantly.

"My boobs fill this out better than you ever filled out that Speedo you wore when you tried to join the swim team." She laughed hysterically at the sudden drop of Duo's face.

"I must have filled it out pretty well if you still can't forget about it. Eh Meiran, I caught you staring at me that whole week." He laughed and she nearly choked.

"I was not you idiot, you just looked so ridiculous. I'm glad you chose track instead." They both laughed. Duo knew how stupid he had looked with his long hair and that Speedo. From the back he kept getting mistaken for a girl missing the top half of her bathing suit. Which became a big problem, he almost developed a complex when guys would hit on him until he turned around then they would scream and run.

"Hey Quatre, where are you going? The hotel was on the last street." Meiran asked and Duo looked back to verify that Quatre had indeed missed the turn. That was weird Quatre always knew where he was going.

"Yeah I thought we might go somewhere, we never get to hang out anymore." He said and he hoped that Meiran was enough of a distraction that Duo wouldn't pick up on his nervousness. Quatre was a horrible liar.

"Oh that sounds great!" Meiran said happily and Duo nodded his head in agreement but there was a look in the boy's eyes that told Quatre he needed to get better at acting because suspicion was right around the corner.

"So where are we goin' Kat?" The braided driver asked while he relaxed in his seat.

"I thought we'd go to the park. I know it's getting late but I heard it was really pretty." Much to Quatre's surprise Duo agreed to go without even a second thought, thank Ala for Meiran and small miracles. If Duo had asked any questions about the park Quatre was sure he would have slipped. He really was a terrible liar.

They arrived at the park at the dark side of dusk and Quatre was immediately impressed by how large the thing was. They piled out of Duo's car and double-checked to make sure the alarm was working because Meiran was a little nervous to leave all the stuff she just bought. The path diverged and they took the left one, it was a wide sidewalk path with lots of winds and beautiful lanterns that lit their way. Duo couldn't get over the size of the trees and blood reds and deep oranges of the leaves as night approached. They walked on chatting amiably and laughing, Duo felt better right at that moment than he had felt all day. It was great to just relax with his friend's but there was still this little bittersweet whole in his heart that he knew would always be there until he made peace with Heero. He was starting to really regret how much he overreacted to that little hug, but right now he was just going to enjoy the company of his friends.

The last light of day finally disappeared and night settled over the park and the three friends. The lanterns glowed brilliantly in the darkness and right here the city lights didn't cover up the stars. A little ways in front of them white Christmas lights seemed to light up a directed path that diverged from the sidewalk and disappeared into the center of the park. Meiran noticed it first and Quatre was glad because if he had had to point it out Duo would have known something was up and that he was behind it. Luckily Meiran's natural curiosity had them all following the lights even if they could have been meant for someone else. Quatre of course knew exactly whom they were meant for.

The center of the park was a big round circle of trees and around each of them had been wrapped hundreds of the little white lights. Quatre smiled to himself and Duo realized that the little blonde had fooled him. He was impressed usually Quatre couldn't keep a straight face when he was lying to the braided boy. Except for the whole college project thing, Duo was still a little shocked that Quatre had kept that from him. He understood though, he knew that some skeletons were better left to rot in the closet. He was glad though that somebody had said something, the look on Quatre's face told him that that particular skeleton had rotted and was starting to stink up the place. Now that it was out in the open he was sure Quatre felt a lot better, the blonde's smiles were even brighter if that were possible. Duo smiled with a "what's going on" look in his eyes and the blonde just shrugged innocently but the mischievous grin on his face told Duo there was definitely something going on and Quatre knew all about it. Meiran looked around the circle, entranced by its beauty until she noticed two figures standing at the other end.

Trowa and Heero stood in between two trees in the middle of the city's largest park. They both wore tuxedos and Heero kept fidgeting and brushing his long disheveled bangs out of his striking blue eyes. Trowa smirked at how nervous his friend was and it was surprising to see. He had thought that his friend never lost his cool but lately, since Duo had been around, that had been changing. They waited patiently, well Heero wasn't exactly patient, for Quatre to arrive with Duo and Meiran. It was a little nerve-racking he had to admit. He had never been apart of anything quite like this before.

"Are you nervous?" Trowa asked and Heero frowned at the smirk he caught flashing across the taller boy's face.

"Shut up. I'm fine." Heero stiffened a little and tried to force himself to stop pulling on his jacket or pushing his bangs out of his eyes. He was very uncomfortable in the classic black tuxedo that both he and Trowa wore. Trowa straightened a little and they both stared into the darkness ahead of them when they heard laughing voices getting closer. Heero instantly recognized Duo's deep baritone and it gave him shivers, but he blamed that on the chilly night air.

"Here they come, you have the ring right?" Trowa asked and Heero stared at him like he asked the dumbest question in the world. Trowa shrugged and Heero felt his stomach twist in a couple knots when he heard Duo laugh out loud all of a sudden.

"Yes." Heero bit hack then pushed his bangs roughly out of his eyes and took a deep breath. Trowa smirked a little but he too was starting to fell a little nauseated with nerves.

"You are nervous aren't you?" Trowa asked, as the voices got steadily closer. Heero frowned but admitted defeat.

"A little I guess. I did just meet the guy." Trowa smiled at his friend, in the past he would have never gotten a response from Heero and he was sure it was all Duo's influence. He couldn't help but think that those two were the matching pieces to some puzzle just for them.

"Yeah but he knows he can trust you." Heero watched nervously as three figures materialized into the clearing of the park, one of them with a long braid gently bouncing in the night breeze. They all stared at each other with different expressions. Duo and Meiran's were of confusion since they both had no idea what was going on. Duo opened his mouth to speak but Meiran beat him to it.

"What are you guys doing here and why are you dressed like that?" She asked with barely controlled mirth. They all looked around at each other and in the distance a song started playing. Heero and Duo locked eyes and the Asian driver took one hesitant step toward the braided boy. Duo smiled just at Heero as if to say all was forgiven and the shorthaired driver continued on his path with renewed courage. He smiled when he reached the braided boy, the music in the background continued to get louder until they could all just barely make out the tune. "Tough, you think you've got the stuff. You're telling me and anyone, you're hard enough. You don't have to put up a fight. You don't have to always be right. Let me take some of the punches for you tonight."Bono sang and you could feel the words trying to reach out and touch you, pinch your heart to wake it up. Heero's eyes were locked on the braided driver's and he leaned in just slightly.

"Duo…" A sudden gasp from Meiran stopped whatever it was that Heero was going to say. Duo looked at her but he didn't see anything and nobody else seemed worried that the girl had just inhaled air like it was her last breath.

"I know this song, it's…" She stopped suddenly and stared hard at the tree immediately to Duo's right. The braided boy whipped around and looked over Heero's shoulder and to his surprise Wufei was now walking out from behind the tree in a pure white tuxedo. There were tears gathering in the corners of Meiran's eyes and she had the biggest grin on her face.

"Wufei what's going on?" Duo asked with a know it all smirk on his face.

"Just following your advice." Wufei said glibly and smiled. "The classic."

Duo grinned wide at his friend as he watched the Chinese youth walk over to the woman he loved and sink to one knee right in the mud. Meiran laughed a little at this but she was still trying to stop her tears from bursting and flooding. Duo felt a small prickling in the back of his eyes and his throat got a little soar. Heero took the boy's hand and squeezed it briefly with a smile on his face just for Duo then he let it drop and went over to stand next to the teary couple. Duo watched this all with wide eyed curiosity as Heero stood next to the couple and took their hands, Wufei's right hand and Meiran's left. He slowly reached into his tuxedo pocket and drew out a long red silk ribbon. He wrapped around the couple's wrists as he pulled it out of his pocket.

"In Japan it is believed that you are connected to all of your loved one's, past present and future, by a red string that cannot be seen. This red string is so thick because even though I have only known you for a short while, I know that there is nothing in this world that could sever it." Heero said and Meiran smiled at him as he continued to wrap the couple's hands together.

"And since my life would never be complete without you in it, Meiran will you marry me." Right when Wufei said this Heero had gotten to the end of his string and he held it above the couple's now joined together hands. He let a little bit of the string he held drop from his fingers and dangling at the end of it was a beautiful silver ring with a glittering diamond set high and sparkling in the night. "Listen to me now. I need to let you know. You don't have to go it alone." The alternative singer crooned on in the tense silence of the night.

"Oh Wufei, of course I'll marry you." Meiran said and finally lost control, tears now streamed freely down her face but she was still smiling. Wufei turned his hand over so it was palm up and Heero dropped the ring into it. Wufei then took Meiran's hand and slid the ring onto her finger before he stood up out of the dirt and kissed his fiancé. Quatre was sobbing, Trowa's eyes looked just a little shiny, Duo felt a renegade tear escape down his cheek but it never finished its journey. Heero brushed his thumb along the boy's cheekbone and wiped the tear away, Duo smiled up at him and it was like the world made sense again. In the back ground U2 just finished their song and a teary eyed group of friends went out for a late celebratory dinner.

And a scared longhaired kid reached out and took the the hand of another scared lonely kid and together they felt they could take on the darkest night.

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So that was it, I told you it was short. I really want to thank everyone personally for their reviews but I can't this time. I got some really good ones too, I'll just have to thank you all twice next time. Well I guess I'll see you next chapter. Keep an eye out for the cursed no more, it should get a new chapter very soon. 'Till next time, same Infected time, same Infected channel! Dude I totally need to be a superhero. 


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